


Broken Kaleidoscope

by UpperMoonTwo



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime, Transformers: Shattered Glass
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff, I am bad at summaries but, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Team Bonding, but the rest are lighter, first chapter is angsty as hell, its hopefully not as lame as it sounds, really they are all suffering please help them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24919042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UpperMoonTwo/pseuds/UpperMoonTwo
Summary: An insurgent archivist calling himself Optimus Prime has started a war on Cybertron hoping to achieve progress through violence and revolution. Now it's up to the Decepticons to fight off the threat before it kills their home planet.edit as of 1/1/2021: I've kinda lost interest in transformers as a whole I doubt I will ever finish this fic unless I get a burst of inspiration or get back into the fandom. sorry about that!
Relationships: Breakdown/Knock Out, Megatron/Starscream (Transformers), some ships might not show up until later
Comments: 21
Kudos: 51





	1. The End of An Era and A New Start

**Author's Note:**

> This story was largely based on a previous fic I did which you can read [here!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24601453) Some parts in the beginning scene are recycled/taken from that story because I wasn't sure how rewrite it. The rest is all new though so please forgive my cutting corners just this once skjfkdsjf
> 
> Content warnings for this chapter: torture, oral trauma (just for one scene though), and suicidal ideation

“This is all your fault you know?” Optimus said, towering over the other helpless party. He had this way about him that made everyone else in the room feel smaller, weaker, and insignificant compared to him. His voice commanded, totally sure of every word. A leader who was charming and charismatic, that made you want to believe his words. And also a total sadist.

Starscream forced his optics to be planted at the ground, trying as hard as he could to block out all the horrible sounds coming from around him. The sounds of terrified screaming, people running, fires raging on, buildings crumbling, and the occasional deafening boom of an explosion tearing through yet another building. How could this have happened? Why did it have to happen? It was so senseless!

As much as Starscream wanted to say that that day was just like any other, it was anything but. The young scientist was a bit of a recluse up until now, preferring to spend his nights working on researching new things and running experiments rather than socializing with others. He planned to change the world eventually by improving fuel efficiency for other Cybertronians along with other inventions to make everyday life a little easier for all. He must have garnered a bit of a reputation for his eccentric brilliance because on the day the war was officially declared…

Optimus Prime himself had come to recruit him. He spoke of all the opportunities he would have as the Autobots’ lead scientist and that he would be offered full protection from the war. It almost sounded like a good deal but… he would never compromise his morals and ethics! Sure, he might be doing the best research of his life but that research would be used to hurt innocent people and fuel a needless war. He refused, barely even considering the consequences of doing so in the heat of the moment.

That was how this had all happened. With a smirk, as if he wasn’t doing anything wrong just having a bit of fun, Optimus gave the order that Vos was to be destroyed. And so he watched, completely stunned and bound in stasis cuffs as this order was carried out with no regard to all the mechs who inhabited the city. It was completely unfair they had to die or lose their homes because of his choice!

“Look at your fragile, little city. Totally demolished because of your stupidity and stubbornness,” the tyrant said in a softer but dangerous tone. It wasn’t a suggestion, it was an order.

But an order that Starscream could not fulfill. He didn’t want to look! Just hearing everything and knowing this was happening because of him was already too much. “No. Please, I don’t want to look. Please don’t make me.”

A hand had harshly grabbed his helm and forced his eyes to meet the burning wreckage. There were many bots fleeing the quickly crumbling city only to end up getting trapped under falling debris or getting caught in the mist of flames and smoke. Distant screams could be heard, echoing gruesomely down the streets. Vos would never recover from this. Everything was in ruins.

Tears streamed down his face as he forced his optics shut. After being forced to witness the destruction of Vos, he was harshly shoved to the ground, landing on his faceplates as his hands were tied behind his back. It stung but he barely even noticed it in his mental state. Everything was hazy. He felt as if he were watching everything happen to him like it was just a horrible movie and not something he was experiencing himself. If only that were true.

“Take him away. He’ll learn his lesson and join our cause eventually.”

More hands. They grabbed him by the wings, yanking him back and dragging him away. It hurt like hell. Wings were one of the most sensitive parts of a seeker’s body and having it pulled at like that sent waves of pain radiating through him. That was nothing though. Nothing mattered. Not where they were taking him. Not what would happen to him. 

Starscream continued on in this numb state even as he was thrown into the Autobot prison and left to his own devices. He never even tried to escape. The ever-present hum of the force-field barrier between him and freedom was a constant reminder that rebellion equated to pain. The fresh, raw emotional wounds that he was sporting from the destruction of his home was more than enough pain for him at the moment. So he sat there, staring at a blank wall as the hours ticked by, turning into days, and then weeks.

He found himself recharging a lot more than he should have been. Recharging too much was bad for a transformer’s health but he couldn’t stop himself. Dreaming was his only escape from the same tired cell everyday. If he could dream, then maybe he could forget his current reality. Even when he was awake, his mind seemed to hold onto dreams as he found himself in trance-like daydreams where everything was fine. Eventually, these became indistinguishable from reality at certain points. The seeker could no longer tell what was real and what was fantasy.

The only thing to ever break up the monotony of his life in a cell was the occasional visits from Optimus. Sometimes he’d stare through at the pathetic little flier without saying a word. Other times, he’d come in and inquire again as to whether he was ready to join their side yet and be free. Starscream didn’t bother giving a response anymore. In fact, it had been so long since he’d used his vocalizer, he wasn’t sure if it still worked or if it had atrophied from disuse like most of his body seemed to have.

One day, however, another mech came to visit him. He’d never met this particular Autobot before but the markings on his shoulders gave away that he was a medic. The medic looked quite angry as he entered, standing with his arms crossed over his chestplates.

“You haven’t been refueling lately,” he said, “Why?”

Starscream said nothing. He hadn’t been refueling at all through the past couple weeks. The alerts in his systems telling him that his fuel levels were dangerously low were constant but he learned to tune them out eventually. The seeker had no motivation to refuel. He didn’t particularly care whether he lived or died from starvation at this point.

The medic picked up one of the energon cubes that laid untouched on the floor of the cell. “Are you trying to die or are you just so stupid you forgot you need to refuel!?”

It was a miracle that he hadn’t gone into stasis or gone offline permanently already. Sure, his complete lack of movement made him burn through his fuel supply a lot slower but still… he had barely fueled at all since the beginning of his imprisonment and the effects were obvious. He knew he must look absolutely awful by now. Mechs that were unhealthy had noticeably duller optics and really unhealthy mechs’ paint-jobs were a lot duller and sickly looking.

The other bot approached him, the energon cube still clutched in his hands. “If it was up to me, I’d just let you die here but Optimus sees something in you. I don’t know what because I doubt you’ll ever be of use to us but he insists I keep you alive.” Roughly, he forced two servos into Starscream’s intake, pushing down on the bottom row of dentia. 

Starscream seemed to come to his senses a little then, not liking being handled like this. His immediate instinct to bite down hard on the intrusive servos was followed and the medic howled in pain. The energon cube splattered all over the cell floor.

“You piece of slag!” he raged, nursing his bleeding servos with his hand, “Just you wait until Optimus hears about this. Maybe he’ll finally decide you’re more trouble than it’s worth! Just a useless waste of time and energon!”

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Optimus himself returned. Instead of being angry like the medic had been, he had a sadistic smile plastered over his face that struck fear into his spark. “So… Ratchet tells me you haven’t been refueling and that you attacked him when he tried to force you to.”

Silence again. He didn’t want to refuel. He just wanted to be free from his prison and from his own mind. If death would give that to him, he didn’t care about living anymore.

Optimus didn’t take well to the lack of a response and advanced on the other mech. “I think you need a little lesson because I’m sure you understand how this works. Energon is a precious resource, don’t you think? Most of the petty battles throughout history have been over our precious lifeforce. So you think you just get to refuse it? And quite literally bite the hand that feeds you?”

Starscream looked up finally, fear sinking in. He didn’t think that Optimus would kill him and that’s what scared him. The tyrant was bigger and so much stronger than him and could cause him serious harm easily if he wished.

Almost tenderly, Optimus picks up the seeker, setting him gently against the wall of the cell. He sticks one servo in the bot’s mouth much to his confusion.

“It’s okay, my little star, I forgive you. Yet, I think you need a little reminder to play nice. Dentia can be serious weapons you know,” Optimus says, the tip of his servo brushing the bottom row of dentia.

Starscream struggled to comprehend what was happening, his mind slow and dull from the starvation and weeks of imprisonment. His confusion was instantly answered when Optimus began to press painfully down on one of his dentia. What came out from his vocalizer was supposed to be a scream but instead is a miserable hiss of static. His mouth filled with the metallic taste of his own energon.

Optimus pushed and pushed harder against the dentia, wiggling it back and forth. It was pure agony, all the sensory nodes in his oral lining were crying out. When that approach wasn’t working, he decided to pull on it with two servos. There was a horrible cracking noise followed by another static-y scream. Part of the dentia had chipped and broken off. Yet, this wasn’t good enough for his attacker as he continued to brutally pull at it until the rest of it tore from the oral lining. The exposed sensory nodes only burned more as they were exposed to the cold air of the prison.

“Hold out your hands.”

Bitterly, Starscream complied and held up his hands. Optimus dropped the two fragments of his dentia into the waiting hands and then closed them over it.

“Let this serve as a reminder that going against us will only cause you more pain in the end,” Optimus said, eliciting a broken sob in response, “I didn’t have to hurt you if you would just play nice.”

Maybe he was right. Maybe he _should_ just give in already to end his suffering. He might even be able to find a way to escape eventually. His thoughts are quickly interrupted as the warlord grabs another energon cube that was lying on the floor and holds it out to him.

“Are you going to refuel on your own now or do I need to force you to do that too?”

Starscream hesitated for only a moment before shaking his helm no and holding out his trembling hand for the cube. Slowly, he brings the energon to his intake. It’s hard to resist the urge to consume it all swiftly as his tanks have been running on empty for far too long but he manages somehow. He doesn’t want to make himself sick by fueling too much too quickly.

“Good,” Optimus says, giving him a quick pat on the shoulder before leaving satisfied.

Starscream forced himself to refuel whenever energon was offered to him from then on, the pain in his mouth reminding him what happens when he rebels. 

And life continued on like this for a while. Starscream’s unsure of how long he’s been there for as his internal clock has been thrown off. His best guess is a few months but he can’t quite know for sure. The visits became less and less frequent, leaving him alone to his own devices for almost every hour of every cycle. That is until…

Something new happens. Such a rarity that Starscream almost writes it off as a bizarre new daydream. A blaring alarm woke him from his recharge one day as many mechs he had never seen before ran through the corridors of cells, periodically freeing some of the prisoners. This is his chance!

He forced himself to his pedes, shaky from disuse and almost worthless. He tumbles almost as soon as he makes his way up. Even if his body is against him, he won’t lose this chance at freedom! There’s no shame in crawling when you can’t walk, he thinks to himself, and so he does. Starscream crawled slowly to the barrier, staring at the strange mechs. The first thing he notices is an unknown red symbol on all of them that he mistook for the Autobot symbol at a glance. 

The seeker tried to yell for help but his malfunctioning vocalizer prevented him from properly doing so. That doesn’t stop him trying, however, he knows he sounds pathetic but he makes whatever garbled noises he can. Anything to get their attention.

It works as a large, grey mech with soft blue eyes stops in front of his cell, looking down at him through the barrier. Then another red mech halts too to get a good look at him.

“That’s not one of ours,” the cherry-red mech said and was about ready to walk away when the grey one holds him back.

“He has no symbol,” he said, looking Starscream up and down, “He’s probably an unaligned that was thrown in here after refusing to join the Autobots. We should take him with us.”

The red mech looked down at him again hesitantly, a look of concern spreading through his features. “I don’t know, bossbot, this could just be a ploy from the Autobots. They know we wouldn’t be able to do nothing to help a defenseless bot so they might have planted a decoy.”

“That is true but… look at him, Knock Out,” the leader said, “He’s in horrible shape, sickly and white. If we leave him here…”

“Fine,” Knock Out relented, pressing a button on the outside of the cell that causes the force-field barrier to instantly turn off, “Can you walk?”

Starscream shook his helm vigorously which causes Knock Out to sigh and gesture towards the grey mech. 

“All yours, my Liege,” Knock Out said and finally ran along ahead.

He crouched down slightly, a reassuring smile on his face. “My name is Megatron, though, you probably already know that. I’m going to take you to safety, okay?”

Starscream nodded as Megatron picked him up, careful not to jostle him so much as they make their way through the prison block. Relief washed over him like a wave and he finally slips into a blissful recharge.

☆☆☆

Starscream wakes up again in an unfamiliar area that he identifies as a medical bay. The same red mech from before is standing just a few feet away from him, skimming through a brown patient file. It only takes a few seconds for Knock Out to notice his patient coming back online and rush over to him.

“Oh, good, you’re finally out of recharge,” he says in a smooth, soothing voice, “You’re a lot healthier than I thought you would be after spending so long in that prison. The only glaring issue is that a lot of your body has begun to atrophy and weaken from inactivity. This can be reversed thankfully and I believe within a few months, you’ll regain full motor functioning.”

This was all too much information too quickly. Though, he was mainly just glad that he was finally free of that hell.

“Oh, is he finally awake?” a familiar voice asked. Megatron entered then, taking a seat in a chair next to his berth. “Good morning. I hope you’re doing well. I just wanted to ask you about why you were in the Autobot prisons?”

Starscream tried to explain his ordeal only to find that no sound came from his mouth. Oh, right. His vocalizer was broken. In order to communicate this, he pointed a servo at his throat before crossing two together to make an X.

“Are you unable to speak?” Megatron asked. He thought about this for a moment before reaching for an empty datapad laying on a counter and handing it to him. “Would you mind writing it out?”

Starscream took the datapad hesitantly. He struggled to find the right words to type at first but once he started, he couldn’t seem to stop.

“My name is Starscream. I was a scientist working in Vos before the war. I was approached by Optimus for recruiting at the start of the war,” he wrote, “He wanted me to be the lead scientist for his team. I refused, obviously, and he threw me into his jail for it. I don’t know how long I’ve been in there or anything that has happened in the war since my imprisonment.” It felt good to finally tell someone or hell even see anyone at all. He purposefully omitted the part about Vos being destroyed because of his selfish decision, thinking they would hate him if they knew what he had caused.

Megatron looked down somberly. “I see. Yet another innocent mech dragged into this needless war… I know this will be a lot to take in at once but I will explain everything that has happened as briefly as I can. Before the war, I was nothing more than a mathematician studying social trend numbers. I quickly realized that a war was imminent when Orion Pax, who you now know as Optimus Prime, began his own faction that strove for progress through violence. With this in mind, I started to gather those who were averse to the Autobots’ ideology and formed my own faction, the Decepticons. It’s been a little under a year since the war was officially declared and there’s already been massive casualties on both sides. We outnumber them in terms of our ranks but their tactics have made it hard for us to take them down.”

☆☆☆

Over the next few weeks, Knock Out personally supervised Starscream’s physical therapy. Sometimes Knock Out’s conjux, Breakdown, would help as well. His progress was very slow at first, painfully so. Within the first few days, he could only walk a few steps at a time and his vocalizer was still producing nothing but static and garbled noises. This slow pace almost made him want to give up entirely and he might have had it not been for one thing.

Megatron had saved his life and he needed to repay him somehow. The only way he could properly do this was by joining the Decepticons. He made up his mind that he would have to fully recover so that he could serve Megatron and repay the debt that he owed to him. This idea is what kept him going even when it seems hopeless. It gave him that extra incentive to push himself past his limits when his whole body was screaming at him to stop moving.

His pedes felt like they were weighed down heavily, every step taking a momentous effort to complete. More often than not, he was sent tumbling onto the padded floor with Knock Out or Breakdown having to help him back up. Despite this, he refused to throw in the towel and eventually, his determination began to pay off.

Knock Out was impressed with his progress. Just in a few weeks, he’d managed to be able to walk on his own again for short distances and stand up stationary for long periods of time. His voice was starting to come back as well. It was still laced with sounds of static and glitched sometimes but overall, he was coherent. 

“Good job, Starscream,” Knock Out said, slapping him on the back maybe just a little too hard one day, “If you keep it up at this rate, you’ll be as good as you were before your imprisonment I bet.”

“You might not look it but you are one stubborn son of a glitch,” Breakdown agreed with a slight smile, “Most mechs probably would have packed it in by now.”

“Thank you,” Starscream said in between panting vents. This work was extremely physically taxing and left him exhausted after each session. “Can I- May I go see Megatron now?”

“Oh?” Knock Out asked, “I mean yeah, of course, I’m sure he’ll be glad to see your progress but why?”

Starscream reset his vocalizer once, hoping that his words would come out clearer. “I want to join the Decepticons. I want to repay him for saving my life.”

That wasn’t an answer either of them were expecting. There was a stunned silence for a moment before Knock Out muttered a quiet “oh alright” and guided him towards the door, allowing the seeker to hold onto him for support.

Megatron’s command room was filled with computers, all sorts of data coming in at once on all of the monitors. It seemed impossible to be able to process the sheer amount of it all. Megatron himself sat in a chair hunched over as Starscream entered, too enthralled by the screens to notice.

“Uh, Lord Megatron?” Starscream asked.

Megatron turned in his chair to look at his visitor. “Sorry, Starscream. I didn’t notice you came in. It seems like you’ve recovered a fair bit? I’m glad. Was there something that you needed?”

Starscream took a few steps forward, his pedes shaking slightly as he did until he fell forward into a kneel, taking Megatron’s hand into his gently. “I pledge allegiance to you, Lord Megatron. I wish to join your cause if you’ll allow me to.”

Megatron was taken aback slightly, unsure of what to make of this strange bot. “Of course, I’ll let you join but… are you sure that you want to? From what you said, it sounded like you wanted nothing to do with this war. Joining the Decepticons will put a target on your back.”

“Yes, I’m certain,” he said and he meant it. Never in his life had he been as certain as he was now.

“Then so be it,” Megatron said softly, “Welcome to the Decepticons.”


	2. Welcome to The Decepticons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starscream gets a tour of the Nemesis from Knock Out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So first off thank for you all the comments on the last chapter! I wasn't expecting that at all and it really made my day :) I'm not really sure I like all the characterizations in this chapter especially for the characters that didn't get much screentime (really I just mean the twins) but I hope it's still enjoyable to read.

“Normally, we’d have you go over the abridged Decepticon rulebook with one of our senior officers before being officially given the title and badge but… unfortunately we’re all stretched as thin as we can be at the moment,” Megatron explained, “I hope you don’t mind skipping through the training section but we are at a critical point in our war. If we don’t start pushing back ground now, we might lose Cybertron for good.”

“I understand,” Starscream said. This was exciting to him nonetheless. It had been a few days since Starscream’s sudden proclamation of loyalty and he was finally cleared by Knock Out to be ready for limited work. “I can read through the rulebook on my own time and I don’t require a grand ceremony. I’m just happy to be here.”

Megatron smiled at him, a genuine, hopeful smile. It had been so long since he had seen someone so full of energy and willingness to do good after just a year of war. It was honestly kind of refreshing to the leader. “I’m sure Knock Out or Breakdown would be happy to give you a tour of the Nemesis and introduce you to our other crew members.” He looked down at his notes, feeling like he was forgetting something important. “Oh, right. I’m sure you’re aware but given your limited movement right now you’ll be relegated to working strictly as a scientist at the moment. In the future, if you want to move to the frontlines you can though.”

Starscream nodded. This was to be expected and honestly? He was just happy to be of any use especially doing his passion. Science had always been his main interest and love ever since he was first constructed cold. “Forgive me if this is asking for too much but do you have a lab space that I could work in?”

“Yes, of course. We actually have another scientist working for us right now as well. His name is Shockwave and he can be a… bit unorthodox but I’m sure you’ll get used to him. I already asked about sharing his lab space and he agreed as long as you don’t interfere with his own experiments.”

Another scientist? That was really exciting news! Of course, he had met other scientists before but never had he had a lab partner! He was already imagining it now. Comparing lab results, testing theories, working together on inventions… Oh, he couldn’t wait to meet this Shockwave fellow. “Perfect! Thank you again for being so accommodating.”

“I don’t think I’ve met a bot quite as earnest as you in a long time,” Megatron said with a small chuckle, “I’m sure you’ll fit right in. Well, I’ll leave you to it then.”

Starscream gave a short, polite bow before leaving the command room and making his way back to the Medbay. The Decepticons hadn’t gone on a proper mission since they freed tons of Autobot captives weeks ago so the Medbay was mostly empty besides a few stray patients.

Knock Out waved at him as he entered, turning his attention away from the cabinet he had been restocking. “Heya, Starscream! How’d it go with the boss?”

“I’ll be working as a scientist with someone named Shockwave!” he explained excitedly, a goofy smile overtaking his features, “What is Shockwave like by the way? I’ve never met him before so I’m a little nervous.”

“He’s kinda intimidating to be honest,” Breakdown said, “Rarely speaks, kinda gives off that ‘mad scientist vibe’, but he’s well-intentioned and damn useful. Where would we be without his work?”

“I see,” Starscream was still somewhat nervous but he was sure he’d warm up to his new lab partner eventually. “Megatron said that I should have one of you two show me around the ship. I hope that’s not too much of a bother for you?”

Knock Out clapped his hands together suddenly, causing the seeker to jump back slightly in surprise. “Oh! It’s been so long since we’ve been able to give a proper tour, hasn’t it? Well, let’s go then!” He was practically pushing Starscream out the door with him as soon as he finished speaking.

“Are you sure it’ll be alright to leave the Medbay unsupervised?” Breakdown asked.

“Oh, scrap, right. Well, I’m sure you can take care of it while I’m gone, right? I’ll leave it in your capable hands, just don’t let anything explode!”

And so the duo was off making their way through the halls of the Nemesis. The layout was very confusing with twisting corridors and branching paths. It was almost like it was purposefully designed to be a labyrinth for those who weren’t familiar with its layout.

“This ship is really big, huh?” Starscream asked as they came to a stop in front of the common area. It consisted of a relatively large room with a few places to sit, an energon bar, and a table where two bots had their pedes propped up on.

“Yep, this is our main base after all. Most of our troops are quartered here,” Knock Out explained, “and we gotta have enough space for everyone. Could you imagine everyone coming back into a super cramped ship after almost getting their helms blown off all the time?”

He thought about that for a minute. It seemed somewhat dangerous to him that most of the Decepticon forces should be in one easily destroyable place. Sure, the Nemesis was always moving and had cloaking technology hiding it but… if the Autobots ever did find their base or if someone sold them out, they’d be able to take out most of the Decepticons right then and there. “I guess you’re right.”

“Hey! Get up you two,” Knock Out called out to the two bots lounging in the common area, “There’s a new recruit I want you to meet.”

Starscream stared dumbfounded at the medic for a few seconds before making a ‘no’ motion with his hands with an awkward laugh. “No, no that’s fine. They really don’t have to if they-”

Despite his protests, both of them got up excitedly, their optics scanning him over. They looked very similar and almost identical framewise except for their paintjobs. Almost in sync, the pair put their arms around the seeker as if they had already decided they were friends.

“Ain’t this the one that Lord Megatron carried in a few weeks ago?” one of them asked.

Knock Out nodded. “This is Starscream. He’ll be joining us from today on as a scientist. Starscream, the one on your left is Skyquake and the one on your right is Dreadwing. You could probably tell but they are twins.”

“Twins? Wow, that’s- that’s incredible. So you were forged from the same spark then? That’s amazing,” Starscream said in awe. It really was amazing. Cybertronians didn’t typically have family like alien races did but every now and then a spark would split into two viable sparks during a forging and the result was twins.

“Yep! Not as amazing as you though. I mean did you see the state you were in when you first came on board? You looked like you were on Primus’s doorstep already,” Dreadwing said.

“Yeah seriously,” Skyquake agreed, “All sick looking, color super washed out, in deep forced-recharge?”

Dreadwing removed his hand from Starscream’s shoulder and turned to smirk at his twin. “You know what’s even more amazing though? The fact that you just made me a richer bot.”

“W-what?”

“Oh, scrap, I forgot about the bet,” Skyquake said, his expression dropping slightly.

“What bet?” Knock Out asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Dreadwing and I made a bet that Mr. Scientist over here would never recover. That sounds really bad and cold now explaining it but well… we bet on everything really. It’s our way of making fun during off hours,” Skyquake explained.

“Uh-huh, so now it’s time to pay up. Don’t worry, your shanix will go to good use.”

“Oh and here I thought that Megatron had banned gambling on the Nemesis after you started running rigged mechanimal races,” Knock Out said amusedly, “I wonder what he’d think of your bets.”

Dreadwing’s optics shot open. “Oh scrap! You be the decoy while I run away, Skyquake! It was nice knowing you!”

“What!? Why do I have to be the decoy again?” Skyquake huffed, taking off after Dreadwing who had already started sprinting away.

Knock Out chuckled. “Great first impression, huh? They mean well, they really do! Don’t let this poison your opinion of them too much. I don’t think there’s any bots more loyal to Lord Megatron than those two. Hell, if he asked them to turn their guns on themselves, they’d probably do it without a second thought.”

“Really?”

“Yep, they almost like Lord Megatron as much as you do,” he said with a sly wink at the seeker.

Starscream’s face began to burn slightly. “H-huh? What do you mean by that exactly?”

“Oh, come on. I was standing outside the door, remember? ‘I pledge allegiance undyingly to you, Lord Megatron!’”

Scrap, that was mortifying. He had thought no one else had heard that. “I didn’t think you were still there…”

Knock Out smirked at him and gave him a light shove to keep walking with him. “I can’t really blame you though. The boss does tend to have that effect on people. He’s a popular mech.”

Starscream said nothing as they kept walking through the halls of the ship, too embarrassed to think of any small talk. They passed by the armory where all the weapons were stored, the refinery where crude energon was refined, the power core, and much much more. There were so many things on this one ship that he felt it would take him years to memorize it all. Then finally they stopped at the barracks.

“I doubt you’ll be spending much time here with how busy we’ve all been lately, but these are the personal quarters and…” he paused, looking through the row of numbered doors, “that one is yours, my friend!”

Starscream followed over to the door Knock Out was pointing at. It was a plain black door with a number label on it and nothing else. “Is it unlocked?”

“I believe so. The keys should be inside so if you want to lock it you can. Honestly, you probably should keep it locked at all times so Skyquake and Dreadwing don’t splatter you with pink paint while you’re recharging or something like that. And so Soundwave’s little bird can’t spy on you as easily.”

“Little bird?”

“Soundwave, our surveillance officer, has this little pet named Lazerbeak that he uses to spy on all of us,” Knock Out said bluntly, as if this was something that every workplace had.

“You’re joking, right? He spies on his own team?”

“Nope, not joking one bit! Welcome to the Decepticons,” he said with a small laugh, “For what it’s worth, I don’t think either Soundwave or Megatron want to spy on us but they can’t really risk having a traitor right now. He does a lot more than just that though! Most of our intel on Autobot activity comes from Lazerbeak.”

“I see…” Starscream turned back to his habsuite door and opened it. Inside was a small room with nothing more than a standard berth, a table, a chair, and a window that he could see the sky through. The dark walls and limited furnishings almost made it look like a slightly lavish prison cell.

Knock Out peeked into the room with him. “It’s rather barren at the moment, huh? I’m sure you’ll find some things to liven it up a bit and decorate. One’s personal surroundings can say a lot about their personality, don’t you agree?”

If that was true, he wasn’t sure his old living quarters had anything good to say about him. His old home in Vos had been made into his makeshift lab and was only tidy once in a blue moon. Half-filled datapads scattered everywhere, prototypes for new inventions thrown about, etc… This new room would probably share the same fate as the one in Vos once he settled into it.

Vos… No! He didn’t want to think about such things right now. He did his best to force his mind blank before some painful wounds could reopen themselves. 

“Right… so what does your habsuite look like then?” he asked, saying the first thing that came to his mind.

“Wow, asking to see my personal quarters already, huh? I never took you for a flirt!”

“What!? No! That’s not what I meant at a-”

“Oh, would you stop teasing the new recruit already?” came a new voice from behind them.

Starscream spun around quickly to see who it was and was quite shocked at what he found. A spider-like bot with many long, slender, limbs with barbs sticking out of them. She was carrying herself with her main body dangling in midair while two of her legs held her up. The rest of her limbs were poised above her almost as if they were waiting to pierce something. Well, this was certainly something new. First the twins and now this bot? The Decepticons sure were an… interesting bunch.

“Aww, you’re no fun,” he said melodramatically, “Anyway, Starscream, this is Airachnid.”

She waved at him with a soft smile. “Nice to meet you. I’m not as scary as I look, I promise.”

“Oh, no, no. I wasn’t scared,” Starscream tried to explain though he knew it wasn’t that convincing, “I’ve just never seen anyone else like you before. Really, you’re all incredible and strange but in a good way!”

“I don’t know, Airachnid, you are pretty scary when you want to be,” Knock Out said, “Remember that one time when Sk-”

She huffed slightly and turned. “Don’t even bring that up again. I’m going. I’m going. Have fun with your little tour.” She walked away way quicker than Starscream would have imagined was possible.

Knock Out elbowed him lightly. Oh, he must have been staring without realizing it.

“You’re thinking that she looks really elegant in her own weird way, right? Well, there was this one time when Skyquake burst into the common area out of nowhere and scared Airachnid half to death. She stumbled over all of her legs and ended up falling flat on her aft. I’ve never seen her look so angry! I thought she was going to skewer both of the twins!”

Starscream made a mental note to never get on Airachnid’s bad side before they continued on. 

☆☆☆

The last place the duo visited on their tour of the Nemesis was Shockwave’s lab. It was clearly marked with a plaque that read “Shockwave” in neatly printed lettering. Beneath that was a digital sign that said “currently in use” in green.

“Oh, good! Looks like Shockwave’s already in there. Megatron already informed him of the situation so he should be expecting you,” Knock Out said, “You can press that button there to ask for entry. He installed that so the twins would stop interrupting him in the middle of his work haha.”

Starscream was about to press the button when Knock Out’s commlink beeped suddenly.

“Hey, Knock Out,” Breakdown said over the comm, “Uhh so the twins burst into the Medbay and knocked over a bunch of vials. It’s not super bad but if you could hurry back soon, it’d be appreciated.”

Knock Out sighed. “Sorry to cut this short but I shouldn’t keep him waiting. You can find your way back to your habsuite, right? If you ever get lost, just use the map I comm’d to you earlier.”

He had a map this entire time? That would have been nice to know earlier when he was struggling for over an hour to find Megatron’s command room on his own. Anyway… with the medic gone, that just left him to his own anxiety. It shouldn’t be a big deal to just press the button and meet his new lab partner but he found himself hesitating.

What if Shockwave didn’t like him? I mean, afterall, he was giving up a portion of his lab for someone he’d never met before. Was that asking for too much already? Plus there was Megatron and Breakdown’s words about his eccentric nature…

Well, it’s not like I’m not a bit strange too, he thought to himself as he forced himself to press the button before he could doubt himself again. There was a quiet beeping noise before the door opened.

The inside of the lab was much bigger than he had been imagining. Everything was neatly organized and kept tidy and the room was absolutely filled with all kinds of equipment. There were shelves stocked to the brim with chemicals in vials, rare materials, and machines for refining them. One particular thing that caught his eye was an energon distillery, in fact, it was the biggest one he’d ever seen. What could he be doing that he needed that much refined energon for?

“You must be Starscream,” Shockwave said, fixing his sole optic unto him unblinkingly, “This is my lab.”

“Wow, you have so much stuff here!” Starscream said in awe, “This is amazing. You must be doing a lot of experiments, huh?” It was then that he noticed a large vat sitting on Shockwave’s workspace. It was bubbling while emitting a foul odor and purple smoke. He walked over it, somewhat entranced by the mysterious liquid.

Shockwave grabbed him roughly before he could get too close to it. “Do not touch. You may use my equipment but do not interfere with anything I am currently using.” 

“Right, sorry,” Starscream said, shrinking back slightly in his grip. The other bot had this way about him with his gaze. It was almost as if he were looking straight through the seeker instead of at him. “I… was just popping in to check things out- I’ll be going now. I’m sorry for the interruption.”

Shockwave was silent as he left, not trying to stop him. The door closed behind Starscream and he let out a vent he had been holding in. His new lab partner sure was intimidating. 

“That could have gone a lot better,” he said to himself with a sigh as he walked away from the lab… and straight into another bot that he hadn’t noticed. “Ow! Sorry!” When he looked up, he was expecting to see one of the twins or Knock Out coming back to make sure he wasn’t lost but instead it was someone new.

A slender mech with long arms and… no face! There was just a blank screen where Starscream had expected a face to be. He quickly composed himself from his shock, because he did not want to leave another bad first impression.

“Sorry about that,” he said awkwardly, “My name is Starscream.”

The other bot stared at him or so he thought he was staring at him. It was hard to tell with the lack of any facial features. “My name is,” he played back a recording of what the seeker had just said, “Soundwave.” The last word hadn’t been his own voice either; it was Megatron’s.

“Uhhh,” he wanted to ask about his voice but couldn’t find the words to do so politely.

“My vocalizer was irreparably damaged by Optimus Prime,” Soundwave said, his voice still alternating every word or few to different recordings, “Now I can only speak through words and sounds I have recorded.”

“Wow, sorry to hear that. My vocalizer was almost damaged beyond repair too. Is it… difficult to speak quickly like that?”

“It used to be. I have grown accustomed to speaking in this manner now. I hope it will not be too difficult for you to get used to,” he said.

“Oh no, not at all. I should be going but it was nice meeting you, Soundwave!”

Soundwave paused, thinking about his next words. “Nice to meet you too…” Then his visor screen lit up with a “:)” displayed on it.

☆☆☆

Later that day, Starscream ended up going back to the Medbay after Knock Out and Breakdown had cleaned up the mess the twins made. He wasn’t quite used to the other crew members and preferred to stick with what he already knew. 

“Glad to see you didn’t get totally lost again,” Knock Out said as he entered, “I know I sure did my first few days on board.”

“You haven’t gotten your badge yet, have you?” Breakdown asked, “We could probably do that now if you want.”

“Not yet, but I thought that Megatron would have to be there to officiate it.”

“Yeah, I’m sure we could get Megatron to come over for a bit to give his ‘blessing’. He might be a very busy mech but I doubt he’s so busy he can’t spare a minute to welcome our newest Decepticon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's all of the team so far! No predaking/predacons yet but they will mostly likely appear in a later chapter. Thanks for reading!


	3. A Dark Relevation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shockwave and Starscream realize something concerning about the Autobots' plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter than usual just because I wanted to update again and get the plot rolling!

Starscream couldn’t take his optics off of his new badge. It was perfect. The Decepticon symbol had also been painted on both of his wings, giving a splash of color to his otherwise neutral frame. He ran his servos over the badge on his chest, tracing the lines slowly. He was finally an official member of the cause now!

“You can always spot a rookie by how busy they are gawking at their badge,” Dreadwing said amusedly from across the common area, “It’ll become just another part of you soon enough. In fact, you’ll probably get tired of seeing it all the time.”

“Still better than seeing the alternative all the time though,” Skyquake added.

He was about to respond when Shockwave entered the room. “Starscream, I could use your expertise on something. If you would come with me.”

“Uh oh, getting a summons from Shockwave? That can never be anything good. He’s probably about to tell you you’ve come into contact with some radioactive isotope and are about to die,” said Dreadwing.

“Oh shush,” Starscream said, waving a dismissive hand in their direction before getting up and following Shockwave back into his lab. “Uh, so, what did you need?”

“Do not listen to Dreadwing. I am not about to tell you that your death is imminent.”

He laughed slightly. “Yeah, I figured.”

“You were studying fuel efficiency and how to improve the effectiveness of energon before the war, correct?” Shockwave asked, “Are you an expert on energon then?”

He didn’t expect someone like Shockwave to know about his work before the war… It was kind of strange but also satisfying to know that competent bots knew of his work. “Well, I don’t know if I’d call myself an ex-”

“There is no need for modesty,” Shockwave said impatiently, “Are you or are you not knowledgeable on energon?”

“I am,” he said, slightly embarrassed now, “Did you… have a question about it or something…?”

Shockwave grabbed the metal vat that Starscream had previously seen smoking the other day. He held it out for the flier to take which he did gingerly. It was no longer reacting to anything and instead had crystallized into a solid chunk. “A few weeks ago, this sample was recovered from an Autobot facility. Megatron has tasked me with determining its origin and whether it could prove dangerous in the future. I believe it to be dark energon.”

He looked closer at the sample. It did look like crude energon but the color was a dark hue of purple instead of blue. “Really? Naturally occurring dark energon is so rare that it’s… almost non-existent. Most people consider it a legend so it’s been hard to actually research it. Could a fabled substance that can supercharge transformers and bring back the dead really exist?”

“Testing it with conventional methods thus far has yielded very few meaningful results.There are no known samples to compare it to and it’s too dangerous to test on an actual mech.”

“If this is authentic dark energon then…” Starscream trailed off. They had stolen this sample from the Autobots which meant they most likely possessed more of it. “If the Autobots can find a way to artificially produce it or find some way of corrupting normal energon then that would be disastrous.”

“Does such a method exist?” Shockwave asked, taking the sample back into his hands and placing it down in a sealed container.

“Well, the legends about dark energon make it somewhat hard to ascertain the truth about it and its effects but… if we go by the most common accounts then it seems like if enough dark energon pollutes a supply of normal energon then the whole batch might corrupt. Though, even if the autobots did repeat this process until they had a sizable chunk of corrupted energon… it still wouldn’t be nearly enough to enhance their entire army or even most of it!” Starscream explained.

“What if Optimus Prime intends to corrupt the core of Cybertron with dark energon as a means to make more?” Shockwave asked, “That would provide him with enough for all of his men and himself.”

The idea was horrifying. All of Cybertron poisoned by the blood of Unicron? “He can’t do that! That’d kill the planet!”

“You are assuming that the Autobots are bound by logic. Optimus Prime cares little for whether he should do things, he only cares about if he can. So, theoretically is it possible to create a supply of dark energon by polluting Cybertron’s core?”

As much as he hated to admit it, Shockwave was right about that. Optimus Prime was mad! He would do anything for power even if it meant killing their very home. “You’d need a huge amount of dark energon but… yes it should be possible.”

“The logical conclusion is that their plan to poison Cybertron is already underway,” Shockwave said, “I will inform Lord Megatron.”

☆☆☆

An emergency meeting was held later that day with Megatron and everyone who reported directly to him. There was an air of confusion and concern as the bots funneled into the rarely used, cramped conference room and took their seats. Given the short notice, all parties assumed that something terrible had happened and they were waiting to hear who had died.

“Thank you for taking time away from your busy schedules to come here so quickly,” Megatron said as he took his seat at the head of the table, “As you know, our next scheduled strategy meeting wasn’t supposed to be until tomorrow but some outstanding circumstances have come up.”

No one liked the sound of that. 

“Starscream,” Megatron continued, sensing the uneasy mood of the room and choosing to pay it no heed, “Would you like to explain the current situation?”

The seeker jumped slightly. He hadn’t expected the task to be hoisted onto him. If he knew, he would have been practicing what he was going to say so as to not make a fool of himself. Oh, well, it wasn’t like he could refuse now and not look like an idiot so he nodded and stood up. Everyone’s eyes landed on him expectantly.

“On a mission a few weeks ago, this sample was retrieved from the Autobots,” Starscream said and held up the sample which had now been moved to a see-through container, “As of right now, we believe it to be dark energon.”

A ripple of murmurs spread throughout the room. How was that even possible?

“The anti-spark? I thought that was just an old myth,” Airachnid said.

“So… what’s this dark energon stuff supposed to do?” Skyquake asked.

“It’s hard to distinguish what’s real and what is just stories but it’s said that taking dark energon will majorly enhance one’s physical abilities while corrupting their mental state. It’s highly addictive even in small quantities and in some legends… it’s said to be able to revive the dead,” Starscream said, knowing this all sounded very ridiculous.

“What?” Breakdown interjected, “You’re joking, right? So the Autobots have the means to bring back the dead?”

“Yes, but due to how rare natural dark energon is, it seems highly unlikely that they would use any of it right now,” he continued, “but Shockwave and I agree that it seems that the Autobots will try to produce more.”

More whispering. The air in the room seemed to drop a couple of degrees as the explanation went on. All of them had heard the stories, the legends, the fireside tales about dark energon and its supernatural effects. But like with most myths, they wrote it off as just a story. Surely, there was no way that an addictive, personality altering substance with the power to bring back those whose sparks had gone out could ever exist, right?

Starscream took a deep vent, already predicting the pandemonium that would come from his next announcement. “We believe that the Autobots are going to try to infect the core of Cybertron with the blood of Unicron to make more of it… and if this happens Cybertron will die.”

“That’s madness!” said Dreadwing, “They can’t do that!”

“Would they really sacrifice our home just for more power?” Airachnid asked gravely.

“If the Autobots are successful in their mission,” Megatron said, instantly sending the rest of the room into silence, “The war will be over and the Decepticons will be wiped out. We cannot allow them to produce any more. I want everyone here to rest up while they can because we are almost at a breaking point in the war. We will need all hands on deck if we are going to circumvent this disaster.”

The meeting continued on like as they discussed plans for how exactly they would stop the Autobots. By the end, everyone was acutely aware of the danger of this mission but they were prepared. The Decepticons left the conference room on edge but also hopeful that they could stop the Autobot threat. Only Starscream and Megatron were left after the meeting’s end.

“Lord Megatron, forgive me if I’m overstepping but can I ask you something?” The seeker said as the Decepticon leader was just about to leave as well.

He turned to him. “You don’t need to ask for permission to speak your mind. Go ahead.”

“Shockwave was the one who did all the work in discovering that it was dark energon, not me. All I did was give my opinion on it,” he said, unable to meet Megatron’s optics.

Megatron took this into account for a silent moment. “I don’t think that’s a question.”

“Oh! Right, sorry, what I wanted to ask was why let me explain it to everyone else? It made it sound like it was my breakthrough instead of Shockwave’s. He deserves that credit.”

“I want the team to see you as the competent bot that I know you to be. Many of our members are wary of outsiders because we have been betrayed in the past. They will be especially wary of you because you were found in their custody. But I don’t want there to be an atmosphere of distrust amongst our ranks. We need to work together and trust the good in us all because otherwise we’ll lose sight of our goal and become like the Autobots. We must work until all are one.”

“Until all are one, huh?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! :)


	4. Preemptive Action

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angst, exposition, and team bonding (not necessarily in that order).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I procrastinated so hard writing this chapter ksdjfksdj I wrote like 2 sentences a day until today when I finally forced myself to sit down and write it all out. 
> 
> Content warning(s): self hatred/self doubt (just to be safe)

Early one morning, Skyquake and Dreadwing were called into Megatron’s command room. Of course, they’d been summoned many times by their master but something felt off this time. Starscream and Shockwave’s announcement about poisoning Cybertron’s core had weighed heavily on everyone’s minds. They wanted to do everything they could to fight off the Autobots before this petty war cost them their home.

“What did you need, Lord Megatron?” Skyquake asked, lowering himself into a polite bow.

“As I’m sure you’re aware,” Megatron started, “we’ve been sending various supplies off-world such as energon deposits and relics.”

Both of them nodded. This had been going on since the war started. Sending their supplies onto other planets meant that they were a lot less likely to be stolen by enemy forces.

“Just in case worst comes to worst and Cybertron becomes no longer viable to support life, we are going to be sending a large amount of energon, weapons, and relics to a distant planet outside of our solar system. This is a lot of me to request, but given the size of this supply, we are going to need to send someone to guard it. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“You want us to go off-world with the supplies?” Dreadwing confirmed.

The twins exchanged concerned looks. If it was what their master ordered, they would do it without any hesitation but still… What if they were needed back on Cybertron and they couldn’t do anything to help? Plus, they had no clue what the alien planet would be like or what they would encounter there.

“Yes,” Megatron said calmly, “You’ll be sent in a stasis pod to a planet far away called Earth along with the needed supplies. This isn’t our first shipment to that planet but this is by far the biggest.”

“Understood, Lord Megatron,” they said in unison. The twins still had their concerns about being sent away from Cybertron at such a critical point in the war but they would never go against their master.

☆☆☆

Early on into his tenure at the Nemesis, Starscream decided to spend his free time in the medbay helping Knock Out clean up and occasionally assisting with minor medical tasks when he could. While most of the team spent their free time in the common area drinking or just relaxing, the seeker found that inactivity seemed to worsen his anxiety and make his mind wander. It was easier to distract himself if he kept busy with other work. Plus it gave him the chance to try to repay the medic for spending so much time supervising his recovery and helping him regain movement. Knock Out and Starscream became close friends during this period as they were with each other alone for most of the time Starscream wasn’t off working in Shockwave’s lab.

The ship had become rather empty and quiet for long hours with the departure of the twins and large chunks of soldiers being stationed elsewhere. The only action they saw for most of the day in the medbay was the occasional minor injury that could be treated rather easily. Everyone still left onboard knew that something big was coming and this was the calm before the storm though. This made things tense and uneasy for everyone as they waited for anything to happen.

But nothing did. The Autobots had been uncharacteristically calm for weeks at that point and Lazerbeak’s spying on them came back with nothing. This was unheard of and practically obscene! It had always been the Autobots that initiated conflict and battle so what had caused their sudden ceasefire? Whatever it was, they knew it couldn’t be good. 

“Is it too optimistic to hope that maybe they’ve just seen the error of their ways?” Knock Out asked one day as they were cleaning up.

“I don’t see that happening,” Starscream said bluntly, “I don’t think you can do the kind of things they’ve done and come back from it. At least not for most of them…”

Breakdown nodded solemnly. “Unfortunately you’re right. It hasn’t even been that long since the war started and they’ve already devolved into doing the worst Cybertronians are capable of. Hard to believe that madmech and Lord Megatron were friends once.”

“Huh?” Starscream asked, “Lord Megatron and Optimus Prime used to be friends?” That was certainly new information and something he hadn’t expected. 

“Yep, believe it or not, they were quite close before everything went down,” the medic explained, “Megatron even supported the Autobot movement before he saw what they would become. It must be hard to see someone you thought you knew spiral into madness like that.”

“Yeah, a lot of people supported them before the war broke out officially. It’s no secret that the senate was less than perfect and a lot of people wanted change. It’s just a shame they resorted to hurting innocents in their need for change. How many cities do you think they’ve destroyed total? I’ve lost count,” Breakdown added.

Starscream backed away then, his mind starting to race suddenly. “Cities destroyed?”

“They attacked so many different cities at once that first day trying to wipe out all of their opposition in one fell swoop,” Knock Out said, “it was awful.”

There was no way they knew, right? Starscream hid his hands behind his back so the pair wouldn’t see how much they were shaking. What would they think if they knew that it was his fault that Vos had been destroyed? They would hate him, wouldn’t they? His only friends so far on this ship would despise him if they knew the truth. He couldn’t let them know no matter what.

Knock Out waved a hand in front of Starscream’s face. “Hey, you alright there? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Starscream straightened immediately, forcing himself out of his thoughts like he had practiced doing so many times. “Sorry, I just spaced out a bit there…”

Knock Out exchanged a worried glance to Breakdown before nodding slowly. “Alright… Well, onto happier news, we’re planning something big tonight. Make sure you stop by the common area later.”

“We can’t say what it is yet but it should be fun,” Breakdown said, “Lord Megatron has noticed that the crew’s morale has been pretty low lately so he tasked us with creating a motivation booster of sorts.”

“Oh alright,” he said mindlessly, “I’m gonna go get back to work but I’ll, uh, definitely come check it out later. See ya-” He was already halfway out the door as he spoke.

Hurriedly, Starscream made his way back to Shockwave’s lab. He finally had a grasp on the layout of the ship after many weeks of getting lost everyday so he reached the lab fairly quickly. Thankfully, Shockwave wasn’t in the lab at the moment so he has it all to himself. As soon as the automatic door closed and locked again, he slid down against it, his helm in his hands.

“Come on,” he whispered to himself, “Get it together.”

At this point, thoughts of what had happened in Vos and his imprisonment were starting to get in the way of his work despite his best efforts. No matter how hard he tried to force his mind carefully blank, the thoughts always returned to bubble over and overtake him completely. Even now, the memories fought against his barrier of pretending to not care. Some of the thoughts slipped through the cracks as quiet fragments of memory.

In all honesty, his memory of the events before his stay at the Nemesis were very muddled and inconsistent. Spending most of his time in the Autobot prison in something resembling a catatonic state left him feeling very confused about a lot of things. It was as if his processor was purposefully obscuring his recollection probably as a coping mechanism. Starscream supposed he should be thankful for it.

He sighed, looking up from his hands. He really needed to go flying sometime. Being cramped up in the ship—no matter how big it was—was starting to feel like a prison of its own. Would he be cleared to fly yet? He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been flying properly. What if his transformation cog had atrophied too? What if he needed months of more physical therapy just to be able to transform again? 

Primus, Starscream felt so weak and helpless. How was he ever going to become an able Decepticon at this rate? Though he didn’t mind being just a scientist, he wanted to strive to be the best soldier he could be once he was able to as well. If he couldn’t even do that much then… how could he ever repay the debt he owed to Megatron and the other Decepticons? They were probably the first mechs to show him genuine kindness and he…

Starscream slapped himself. Hard. Way harder than he should have, in fact. The stinging in his faceplates centered him in a strange way. It gave him something other to focus on than the rush of his head. Sitting here giving into self-pity wasn’t going to get anyone anywhere; he needed results.

Shakily, he climbed to his pedes and walked over to his workstation. He might be weak now but… that could always change. All he needed to do was make a few modifications to his body.

☆☆☆

Starscream couldn’t do anything too drastic yet with his modifications. He had already told Knock Out that he’d come by later which gave him a time crunch. So he settled for something smaller though he decided eventually he would heavily alter his alt-mode as well. He had average strength for a Cybertronian of his stature but he was much faster and more agile than the average seeker. And despite being out of practice, he knew himself to be a very accomplished flier. Even with this, there was always room for improvement.

After a few hours of careful work, he stepped back to admire the new retractable blade made of energon crystal he’d installed in his arm. It was a small but powerful weapon that could cut through molecularly dense armor. His whole arm was still sore from the incision but it was manageable. If all went well, this would be only the first of many changes he could make. Next would be to create an arm-mounted projectile weapon for himself for when he finally was cleared to go to the frontlines.

That could wait though. First, he had to see whatever this “morale booster” was that Knock Out and Breakdown had planned so he made his way to the common area.

Starscream certainly wasn’t expecting what he found. The entire common area was decorated from floor to ceiling and a giant stage with speakers and a microphone on it stood in the middle of the room. Almost everyone he’d met so far was there too with the exception of the twins. A

“Hey!” Knock Out said as he noticed him enter, “Starscream! I’m glad you could make it. Isn’t this great?”

Starscream smiled awkwardly. “Uh, yeah… what is ‘this’ exactly though?”

“You mean to tell us that you’ve never done karaoke before?” Breakdown asked, “What did you use to do for fun then?”

“No? Whenever I was bored or just needed something else to do, I’d just go flying usually,” he said, instantly feeling like he’d said the wrong thing.

“Wow. Well, you just pick a song you like on the karaoke machine and sing along as best you can. Most people aren’t really good at it but that’s the fun of it,” Knock Out explained, “Breakdown and I are gonna sing a song together next so you can see how it’s done.”

“Wait, we didn’t discuss t-”

Sure enough, Knock Out half dragged Breakdown up onto the stage and began to flip through the song catalogue for a few seconds before landing on a duet song. Everyone else in the room started to gather around the stage except for the few stragglers left around the edges of the room.

“So before you get to hear the wonderful musical talents of yours truly,” Knock Out started dramatically with a smirk, “Let’s thank the bot of the hour for making this night possible, Lord Megatron.”

Everyone applauded and looked over to the corner of the common area where Megatron himself stood. He waved with a small smile. “I know things have been tough on everyone lately so I hope you can all have a little bit of fun tonight.”

And they did. After Knock Out and Breakdown’s duet, the rest of the team took turns singing in groups or by themselves. There was lots of drinking and laughter too. It seemed like everyone was finally letting go of the burden that was hanging over them to actually have fun like they did before the war. 

After a few different people went up for their turn to sing, Starscream decided he needed to get away from all the excitement for a little bit and quietly slipped away to walk the corridors alone. Or well he would have been alone if he didn’t stumble across Megatron who probably had the same idea. The leader sat alone on a bench overlooking a huge window, watching the stars. He turned to him as he noticed the seeker standing there and patted the spot next to him, signalling for him to sit.

“Are you not enjoying the event?” Megatron asked as Starscream took the seat next to him.

“Oh, no, that’s not it at all, Lord Megatron! It’s great. I’m just not good with… these things,” he replied, gesturing vaguely with his hands about what ‘these things’ were supposed to be.

Megatron chuckled quietly into his hand. “It’s not what I was expecting when I asked those two to come up with something to boost morale either honestly. Though, it seems to have served its purpose well enough.”

And they sat there together silently for a while just stargazing. It wasn’t an awkward and tense silence either like they were struggling to come up with anything to say. Just a comfortable moment shared between the two of them.

“Forgive me if you’ve been asked this a lot because of your name but… are you interested in astronomy by any chance?”

“Not particularly, but I do know a few constellations.” It wasn’t a field of science he ever saw himself going into but he remembered enough from his astronomy class.

Megatron did something that surprised him then and grabbed Starscream’s wrist and used it to trace a line of stars, completely oblivious to how uncomfortable this action made the seeker. “You can see Orion from where we are right now. It’s easiest to find by Orion’s belt which is more or less a straight line of three stars… right there!”

“Hmm, I don’t think my favorite one is visible from here. I used to be able to see it all the time from my old apartment,” Starscream said, scanning the sky for it but coming up empty.

“You know, I used to stargaze a lot before the war but I haven’t done it in a long time. I’m glad I got the chance to tonight.”

Starscream was about to respond when Knock Out grabbed both of their shoulders. “Hey, don’t think you can hide without singing at least once! We’re all getting together for one last song. Well, that is if Breakdown can manage to get Airachnid up on the stage without getting his optic poked out.”

“I don’t sing-” Starscream started to say before getting interrupted.

“Oh, shut up. No one here does and that’s what makes it great. We got Soundwave to act as our camera so we can laugh at how horrible we all sound later,” Knock Out interrupted, dragging them both back to the common room.

“You should be a little nicer, Knock Out,” Megatron said, though he couldn’t help but smile as he did.

“Don’t worry, My Liege, we’re friends so it’s consensual bullying!”

Everyone that served directly under Megatron and Megatron himself stood on the cramped stage together. Somehow Breakdown had coaxed Shockwave and Airachnid to join in too. Soundwave stood in front of the stage, getting ready to record their performance. 

Knock Out pushed Starscream in front of the karaoke machine. “You get to pick the song. Just don’t pick any of the songs with yellow names unless you know Old Cybertronian that is.”

“That could be interesting actually,” Airachnid said, “Trying to sing a song in a language that none of us know.”

Breakdown laughed. “We’re gonna sound awful enough already. We don’t need another handicap.”

Starscream scrolled through the machine’s catalogue for a few seconds before picking a song that he vaguely remembered hearing sometime before. What ensued was some of the worst, offkey singing anyone of them had ever heard. Even with the machine showing the timing of the words, several of the group were either behind or going too fast. All of them were laughing by the time the song ended and eagerly running to Soundwave to hear the playback.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I went to google what the stars in Orion's belt were named (which I didn't even end up including in the story) and ended up falling down a 2 hour long wikipedia rabbit hole about astronomy. Also pretend it makes sense for them to be able to see these constellations and for them to know their human-made names please ksjdfksjdfs I tend to just use human lingo whenever it makes sense because I'm uncreative and I remember being so confused when I first started reading tf fanfics because of all the terms. I still have no clue what half of them mean tbh. Like what is a cycle exactly? Is it an hour? A day? 17 minutes on the dot? I don't know.


	5. Moment of Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Autobots finally appear again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very surprised I've been able to keep updating kinda frequently??? Like where did all this motivation to write come from?? I'm happy but what the heck. Also wow I finally wrote a chapter that focuses mainly on other characters for once.

Something was going to happen soon and everyone knew it. No one was more acutely aware of this fact than Megatron himself. He knew how Optimus thought. They were friends once after all. Never before during the war had anything like this happened where the Autobots went radio silent. Sightings of them were so few and far between that rumors had started about the whole faction being mysteriously wiped out whether that be because of infighting amongst their ranks or some divine force intervening. Most of them knew better, however. There had to be some other reason for it. The Decepticons outnumbered the Autobot forces but still… How could they just fall off the map like that? It was truly bizarre and no one knew how to handle it. The anxiety and fear was palpable all throughout their ranks. All they could do was wait until something happened.

It wouldn’t be for another few weeks that anything would break the complete silence from the Autobots. A large energy signature coming from an area that was more or less in the middle of nowhere. The area had been uninhabited for years due to its harsh conditions. It was a perfect place to hide a major operation without raising suspicion. The signal disappeared almost as soon as it was picked up, probably a malfunction in their cloaking technology that they rushed to fix. It didn’t matter though. They had already seen the signal and were going to investigate immediately.

Megatron comm’d Soundwave as soon as he saw it, telling him to send Lazerbeak to check out the given coordinates. He had to hold back from sending in his forces right away without checking first. This very well could have been a trap. The Autobots weren’t sloppy or incompetent. There was a strong chance they had wanted him to see where they were and send the Decepticons into an ambush. The two of them watched the live recording together in the command room.

Through Lazerbeak’s camera, they saw what seemed to be mining equipment but that couldn’t be the case, right? There were no energon deposits in that area to mine so what were they drilling for? Whatever it was, it had to be something big given the scale of the operation and how many workers were stationed at the drillsite. None of this boded well for the Decepticons.

“I’ve seen enough,” Megatron said, turning away from the live feed, “Call everyone into an emergency meeting. If this is what I think it is then… Primus help us all.”

“As you wish, Lord Megatron,” Soundwave said and comm’d everyone who was still stationed on the ship.

This time everyone knew something major was happening as they came into the emergency meeting. 

“Thank you all for coming so quickly. I wouldn’t call you here like this if it wasn’t important,” Megatron started, “Just a few minutes ago, an unknown energy signature was picked up by our radars. Lazerbeak was sent to the site where we found Autobot drilling equipment.”

Airachnid stared at the coordinates that had been sent to everyone and recognized where it was. “Drilling equipment? There’s nothing in this area to drill for?”

“Yeah,” Breakdown agreed, “This area’s been a no bot’s land for years. Its conditions are near unlivable.”

“Which makes it a perfect hiding spot,” Knock Out said, “As long as they used a cloaking device, we would have never found out but what are they doing there? Surely if they were just hiding, there wouldn’t be a need for all these mining tools.”

“They’re doing more than hiding,” Megatron confirmed, “I assume you all remember our last emergency meeting? The one about their plans with the core of Cybertron?”

“So they are drilling down to Cybertron’s underworld?” Shockwave asked, “It seems the most logical way to get to the core. To think they have been doing this for this long without us realizing…”

Megatron nodded gravely. “Given our current information, which is admittedly limited, I believe that is their plan. We must act now. They cannot be allowed to reach our planet’s core under any circumstances.”

“Just give the order and we’ll do everything we can,” Airachnid said resolutely.

“Breakdown, Shockwave, and I will lead an assault on the main drilling site. It seems like most of their troops will be stationed there. Airachnid, you will be responsible for keeping Autobot reinforcements at bay. Soundwave, you and Lazerbeak will stake out the underworld of Cybertron. Knock Out, you will be preparing the medbay and tending to inevitable wounded soldiers. And lastly, Starscream, you’ll be in charge of operating the groundbridge. There’s a high probability that the battle might lead into the core of Cybertron itself. Please be careful if it does. The underworld of Cybertron is highly dangerous and largely unknown territory.”

Everyone nodded and got ready to be dispatched. This had come out of nowhere and they felt massively unprepared but it was now or never. If they didn’t act well… no one wanted to consider that possibility. 

☆☆☆

The battle started as soon as the groundbridge portal opened over the drillsite. There was no point in trying to hide a battalion that large anyway so they started attacking before the bridge had even closed. Megatron still wasn’t sure if the Autobots had let them see the energy signal on purpose or not, but nonetheless the soldiers seemed ready for them. A large number of troops were stationed around the tunnel leading down, blocking the Decepticons from gaining entry.

One thing that became apparent quickly was that most of these soldiers were not trained properly. They were most likely miners that had been recruited for this work and then left to die once they outlived their usefulness. They went down easy, not having the skill of most Autobot elites. Megatron’s spark ached for their loss. These bots hadn’t asked for this war but the Autobots did not care. Optimus did not care.

Soundwave and Lazerbeak managed to sneak around to the tunnel through all of the commotion, using the large pieces of mining equipment as cover. He sent Lazerbeak down into the tunnel which was almost pitch black except for a few torches planted on the walls. There was a rope laying flush against the floor of the tunnel which told them that there were most likely a few bots heading downwards already.

“Lord Megatron,” Soundwave said through the commlink, “The Autobots have already started their descent.”

“Scrap,” Megatron muttered to himself, “Shockwave and Breakdown cover me! I’m going down.”

“Good luck, Sir,” Breakdown shouted back, shooting one of the bot’s in his way as he did, “Save Cybertron for us.”

Megatron ran forward towards the tunnel and vaulted downwards into it without a second thought. If the Autobots were already down here, they might be too late. Pushing his worst fears aside, he continued down the darkened tunnel, following Lazerbeak. It went on for what seemed like forever. How long had they been at this to drill all the way down to the core of Cybertron? If only he had caught on sooner… He tried to ignore those thoughts and the strange sounds coming from all around him as the tunnel continued down deeper and deeper…

☆☆☆

Back on the surface, Airachnid stationed her troops at known supply lines while she scanned for any reinforcements from the skies. For the most part things seemed quiet and calm until she spotted a single armed Autobot vehicle moving in the opposite direction of the drillsite. She hoped it was nothing but decided it was better to be safe than sorry. Giving quick orders to the troops to stay in formation and updating Megatron about her plan, she began pursuit.

She followed the vehicle all the way to what looked like an Autobot research facility. Her target stopped in front of the building and transformed back into bipedal mode before carrying some unknown cargo inside. This was highly suspicious. She transformed out of her altmode as well about 20 feet away from the facility and began to slink closer. The building was well-hidden so whatever was in there must be of importance.

Knocking out the guard stationed at the front of the building, she entered as quietly as she could. The bot she had seen before was nowhere to be found as she tried to navigate through the building’s layout. It seemed empty for the most part which was even more confusing. Was this a trap? Despite her worries, she went on until she heard voices coming from a room at the end of the hallway. Airachnid pressed herself into the wall, hoping it would provide some camouflage with its dark color and listened.

“I can’t believe we got stuck on guard duty while one of the most important operations in this war so far is underway,” a feminine voice complained.

“Eh,” another voice replied, “It’s not all bad, Arcee.”

Arcee huffed and paced around the room angrily. She stopped in front of the door and glanced down the hall which caused Airachnid to freeze up. For a tense second, she prayed that the Autobot wouldn’t see her, at least not until she knew what she was up against. Thankfully, she turned her back to the door after a few terrifying moments.

“No, Tailgate, it’s complete scrap! This is just Ultra Magnus’s way of punishing me for what happened during the last raid. It wasn’t MY fault that we lost the energon in that mine,” Arcee said indignantly, “And what’s with that look? You got something you wanna say?”

Tailgate chuckled. “Now, now, calm down. I felt like I was being followed on the way back from recon but it was probably nothing.”

“Hmm… Go canvas the building again just to be sure. If what we’re guarding gets destroyed… I think Optimus Prime will have both of our helms on a spike.”

“I think you’re more paranoid than Ultra Magnus, Cee,” Tailgate said but moved to leave again anyway.

Airachnid got ready to strike as well, poising one of her legs to attack Tailgate as soon as he entered the doorway. He was knocked back into the room, hitting the wall hard with a grunt.

“Tailgate!” Arcee cried out, running over to her partner and aiming a gun at Airachnid. “You idiot! You did get followed!”

Tailgate groaned, holding his side where he was leaking from. “Could you scold me after you kill the Decepticon scum please?”

She nodded and stood up, focusing all of her attention on Airachnid. She didn’t hesitate at all as she shot at the other bot. Airachnid dodged quickly, entering the cramped room as she did. There wasn’t much space to fight in here which left her at a disadvantage.

Arcee shot again and Airachnid had to throw herself out of the way, feeling one of the bullets graze her leg. Before she could attack again, Airachnid shot out one of her webs. Arcee managed to roll out of the way, though, so it only hit Tailgate and pinned him to the floor.

“What do you want, filthy ‘con?” Arcee asked through gritted dentia, “There’s nothing for you here.”

“That depends on whatever it is you’re guarding,” she said and shot another web at the Autobot which promptly missed, “It must be important if you’re here instead of out there.”

Arcee lunged at her then and tackled her to the ground. They rolled around in a scuffle for a few seconds before the Autobot managed to pin her to the ground and shoved her gun into her chestplate roughly. “Give me one good reason not to.”

“Here’s one.” She shot another web out, sending her gun flying into the wall. Using the temporary surprise to her advantage, she kicked out and pulled herself back to her pedes. “Tell me, what exactly are you guarding here?”

Arcee smirked which sent a wave of fear down Airachnid’s spinal struts. In her focus on her, she had completely forgotten about Tailgate who had freed himself during the commotion. She spun around as fast as she could but Tailgate had already launched at her. She lashed out, just wanting to stop him from landing on her but…

Energon dripped down one of her legs and Airachnid quickly realized what she had accidentally done. Her leg had skewered Tailgate right through his spark chamber. She gasped and immediately pulled away but it was too late. The damage had been done.

“Tailgate!” Arcee screamed, rushing over to him again, “Tailgate, no!”

Airachnid ran, the energon still staining her body. Sure, she had killed before but never had she killed someone she hadn’t meant to. Arcee followed her, angry tears of coolant streaming down her faceplates. Her speed was unmatched as she slammed Airachnid into the ground and landed blow after blow on her. All the Decepticon could do was put up her arms to defend herself against the endless rain of blows.

“You killed my partner!” she screamed, continuing her brutal assault.

Airachnid’s whole body was on fire with pain. She almost felt as if she would fall into stasis due to the agony. Black spots dotted her vision and fight or flight kicked in. She struck out again, kicking the Autobot repeatedly in the stomachplates but she wouldn’t budge. 

“Get off!” Airachnid screamed back, headbutting her hard and stunning both of them. 

Finally, Arcee was knocked off her balance enough for Airachnid to shoot her with another web. And another. And another. The Autobot was almost completely covered in webs before Airachnid was satisfied she wouldn’t be escaping anytime soon. 

“I need backup,” she said into her commlink, “Here are my coordinates.”

With Arcee out of commission, Airachnid entered the room again. Tailgate sat slumped against the wall. His body was still warm but from his optics she could tell there was nothing left in there. 

“For what it’s worth, I am sorry. It didn’t have to end like this.”

She investigated the room further but didn’t seem to find anything of interest. Was this really a trap? It didn’t seem like anything worthy of protecting. That was until she spotted a trapdoor in the floor and descended into it. What she found made her freeze.

The largest stockpile of dark energon that anyone had ever seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and sorry for the somewhat cliffhanger skdfjksdjf I already finished the next chapter (and oh boy...) but I'll wait a few days before posting it so I don't spam y'all


	6. The Matrix

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I went back and forth forever over this chapter wondering whether I should post it as is or rewrite it entirely. I'm still not really happy with how it turned out but I've tried rewriting it multiple times and I'm still not satisfied with it so I figure I might as well as post it. Like I said I don't like how this chapter is written I feel like it's really weak and forced but oh well I hope it's still somewhat enjoyable to read.

“The workers up here have been neutralized,” Shockwave said into his commlink, “Should we lead troops into the underground?”

“I’m almost at the core,” Megatron replied, “Send a few down. This could very well be a trap.”

“Affirmative,” Shockwave said, “Breakdown will lead a third of our battalion down.”

Finally, Megatron reached the core of Cybertron. It was brilliantly bright and hot so much so that he had to look away from it.

“I didn’t expect you to arrive so early,” Optimus Prime said smugly, “but you’re still far too late. You can’t stop us now.”

“I have no time for idle chatter,” he said, looking around at the crew working. There were several high-ranking Autobots around and he knew already he couldn’t hold them all off. “Stop this now. You’re going to kill our planet.”

Optimus laughed. “That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

“Can I kill him, boss?” another bot, who Megatron thought was named Bulkhead, asked, “Please, boss, can I?”

“No,” he waved his soldier down with a dismissive hand, “Only I am allowed to kill Megatron.”

“I won’t let you kill me,” Megatron said defiantly, “You’re not fit to be a leader. You’re a sick individual who wears the costume of a Prime! Let’s end this right here and now.”

“How dare you!” Optimus yelled and lunged at Megatron, “I’m more fit to be a leader than anyone else in this pathetic planet’s history! Only I can lead Cybertron to greatness!”

Megatron held his ground, catching Optimus’s punch before it landed and using it to throw him back. “How will you lead Cybertron to greatness? By killing it and half of the mechs on it!? You’ve truly lost it!”

Not wasting another second, Optimus was back up and swinging at him once again. His attacks were relentless and quick. Megatron narrowly avoided being hit with Optimus’s axe a few times. Eventually, his luck ran out and he got slashed in the arm. Energon gushed from the wound as one of his minor fuel lines had been hit. He staggered back, holding his injured arm tightly, hoping to stop some of the bleeding with pressure.

Optimus paused for a second as well with a sinister smile. He was just toying with him now. “Look at you. You’re nothing without your army behind you. How can you save anyone if you can’t even save yourself?”

The crew around them laughed at him. Megatron didn’t expect to come out of this alive but he couldn’t stop now. He was vastly outnumbered and injured but he had to act! Quickly, he ran past Optimus towards the worker manning the machine they’d brought down. He was sure that the machine was what they were using to poison Cybertron and it had to be destroyed!

“Running away, are we?” Optimus asked, slowly walking towards him. “The rest of you go back through the tunnel! I’m sure that there are more Decepticons on their way. Kill as many of them as you can. I’ll finish up here alone.”

The rest of the crew did as Optimus ordered and started to retreat through the tunnel.

“They know you’re coming,” Megatron warned Shockwave, “Be prepared for them and send more troops down. This is the last stand for Cybertron.”

“Aw, now that’s no fun,” Optimus said as he cornered Megatron again, “I think we ought to end this ourselves, don’t you think so?”

He didn’t have time for this! Megatron slammed his fist into the control panel of the machine over and over again but it didn’t stop. 

“Did you really think that you can stop it by hitting it? Even I didn’t think you were that stupid.” Optimus then slammed into Megatron from the side, sending them both tumbling off of the control platform.

They hit the ground hard. Pain spread all throughout Megatron’s body and his vision blacked out for a few seconds. He wouldn’t go down that easily though! He had once been a gladiator before turning into a humble mathematician and then a warlord. He had fought much tougher mechs than Optimus and come out on the other side.

Megatron struck out and pinned Optimus to the ground by his wrists. “Tell me how to disable the machine. Now.” 

All he did in response was smirk which infuriated the Decepticon even further. He pressed down harder, squeezing his wrists painfully. “Do you think I’m anywhere close to joking? I’ve had enough of you and you pretending you’re a prime. You’re not! You’re nothing!”

“If I’m nothing, what does that make you? I’m already a Prime and it’ll be official soon. Don’t worry.”

“You’ll never be given the Matrix of Leadership!” Megatron yelled. He knew he was getting overly mad but he couldn’t help it. Pain, anger, and guilt attacked his processor all at once. Optimus had been his friend once! How had things turned out this way? “After everything you’ve done, you can’t seriously think that.”

“You Decepticons are all sickeningly sentimental,” he said flatly, “It disgusts me to see how far you’ve fallen. We could have been great together.”

“If you refuse to tell me how to shut off the machine,” Megatron said, getting up and releasing his captive, “I’ll just have to dismantle it myself.”

“Spoken like a true brute,” Optimus retorted, “You say you’re not a killer. You say that you’re better than me. You even tried to leave your old life as a gladiator behind but I know you better than that. You can’t outrun yourself.”

His words made Megatron pause for a second. Was… was he right? He had gotten so angry with Optimus and attacked him without any remorse. Sure, he deserved it but… “You’re not worth my anger.”

Megatron turned his back to the Autobot then and focused on the machine. He really wished he hadn’t smashed the control panel as badly as he did. The screen was cracked and unreadable now. He had absolutely no clue how to disable it. Would his rashness cost them their planet? He shuddered to think about it.

“The process has already begun,” Optimus said as he got up as well, “Even if you destroy the machine now, the dark energon has already begun to spread through the core.”

That didn’t stop Megatron from trying. He grabbed the control panel entirely now and tore it from its hinges. There was no point in trying to shut it off in its current state. He would just have to destroy it entirely. Next, he focused on the large pipe that was feeding into the core, using all of his strength to burst it.

“You really don’t listen, huh? I said it’s useless!” 

Optimus was about to attack Megatron while his back was turned when Lazerbeak flew in, slamming his small body into the Autobot. With a grunt, Optimus was knocked off balance, giving Megatron the time he needed to keep dismantling the machine.

“You stupid little-” he growled and grabbed the smaller bot with two hands. Harshly, he began to pull at Lazerbeak, almost ripping him in half before he was satisfied the nuisance wouldn’t be bothering him again.

Even with the machine no longer functioning, it was clear the damage had already been done. Megatron had to use all of his willpower to resist sinking to his knees as he saw the extent of the damage. The bright core was being encroached upon by a vile, purple energy that he knew to be dark energon.

Optimus stood behind him, staring down into the core. “I already told you this would happen. Now all that’s left is for me to gain the Matrix and rule this planet.”

Megatron stood there, his mind feeling numb. How could this have happened? Was everything they had done for nothing? They had tried their best and they outnumbered the Autobots so much and yet… It still turned out this way.

He almost didn’t care when Optimus began to attack him again. He was going to die soon anyway so what did it matter? He could feel the energon leaking from his wounds that he had only made worse from straining himself so much. In one day, the Decepticons would lose their home planet and their precious leader. In one day, all resistance and hope would be lost. In one day…

Megatron felt himself slipping, his consciousness just barely holding on by a thread as another blow connected. That was when his attention turned to something else. Lazerbeak… The small bot was still alive and… carrying something? His optics widened in shock as he realized what it was carrying. The Matrix. He couldn’t let Optimus get it! Even if he was going to die soon, he would rather die protecting the Matrix than just giving up!

He slammed a foot into Optimus’s chest and ran over to Lazerbeak, hastily grabbing the Matrix before running again. The Autobot followed suit and ran after him. He had seen what Megatron was carrying and he wouldn’t stop until he had it.

The reinforcements were almost there! He just had to hang on a little bit longer and not let Optimus get his hands on it. Even as Optimus tackled him to the ground and relentlessly beat him, Megatron would not let go of it. After a while, he began to tune out the string of insults coming from his old friend and even the pain he was in. All that he could feel was the Matrix in his arms.

His vision turned white suddenly. His first thought was that he had finally died. It didn’t help that there was now an otherworldly voice reverberating through his mind. 

“Megatron,” the voice said. It was pleasant sounding though any noise at all made his battered helm ache. It felt like a scraplet was chewing through his processor from the inside out. “You have done well.”

“No,” he forced out, “I failed.”

“You have not failed. Cybertron will heal but you must give it time. Leave the planet and wait… You have all you need with you now. You have the Matrix’s knowledge.”

“I’m going to die.”

“No. You must live. You will live…”

Whether he realized it or not, Megatron had left his commlink on and everything that was happening was being broadcasted back to base. Starscream had heard all that happened down there and knew he had to do something quickly. Without even thinking about the consequences, he activated a groundbridge at Megatron’s coordinates. There was no one else left who could operate the bridge so he would just have to leave it open as he went through.

Starscream rushed through the portal before he had a moment to regret his decision. What he saw made his spark drop, Optimus was standing over Megatron, kicking him repeatedly while he was down and trying to pry something from his grip. What should he do!? He had never been in an actual fight before! He hesitated for only a second before transforming into his altmode. His flying prowess had always been his best attribute so he decided to use it.

He rammed into Optimus before he even realized he was there. The warlord was thrown off his feet and almost fell into the core of Cybertron itself. Starscream then transformed back and turned to Megatron to shake him a few times. “Lord Megatron! Are you awake!? Can you move?”

There was no response. Megatron didn’t even stir or groan. He was either dead or in a deep stasis lock. Starscream pressed his hand over the other mech’s chest and sighed in relief when he felt his spark weakly beating still.

“I must admit I didn’t expect that from someone like you,” Optimus said with a grunt as he got up, “Do you really think a weakling like you can save anyone? You should have joined me when I gave you the chance. Now you’re going to die with your pathetic leader.”

Starscream draped Megatron’s arm over his shoulder and began to pull him back towards the groundbridge. It didn’t take long to realize how screwed they were. Although he would never say it to his leader’s face, Megatron was really, really heavy especially now that he was unconscious and laying his full weight on the seeker. Their pace was too slow! Optimus might be injured too but there was no way he wouldn’t be able to reach them before Starscream could get through the portal and close it. He closed his optics, knowing this was probably the end but refusing to give up anyway.

“Hey!” Breakdown shouted, “Sorry it took so long but the cavalry's here!”

“Oh thank Primus,” Starscream muttered to himself as Optimus soon became too preoccupied fending off the other troops to kill them. “Hold on just a little longer, my Lord, we are almost there!”

The sudden backup didn’t stop Optimus from launching one last attack on the duo though. He shot at Starscream, the bullet ripping through his wing membrane. The seeker cried out in pain but managed to remain upright as he dragged Megatron through the groundbridge and then disappeared into it.

He shut down the bridge quickly and continued his journey to the medbay. “Knock Out!” he yelled down the corridor, forgetting about his comms in his panicked and pained state.

Sure enough, the medic peeked out of the medbay and ran over to them as soon as he saw the state Megatron was in. Together, the two of them carried him inside and laid him down on a medical berth. Knock Out started working on him immediately, wasting no time. His injuries were extensive and he would soon expire without proper medical care. 

“Hey!” Knock Out said as he saw Starscream was about to leave, “Where do you think you’re going? You’re injured too.”

“I need to get back to operate the groundbridge,” Starscream explained, not stopping despite Knock Out’s protests.

“I don’t think so. Sit your aft down before you tear yourself open. Your wound doesn’t look fatal but you shouldn’t be moving around so much until I can patch you up. I’ll get to you as soon as I can,” Knock Out said.

“Really, I’m fine. I have to get back to the bridge. Lord Megatron tasked me with handling it!”

“Considering you just saved his life, I don’t think he’s gonna chew you out for leaving your post,” he said with a roll of his optics, “You fliers I swear… you all think you’re invincible or something.”

“I’m f-”

“No, not another word. Every second I spend arguing with you is another second I’m not giving my full attention to fixing Lord Megatron.”

“Fine.” With an annoyed huff, Starscream relented and sat down on an empty medical berth. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was in a lot of pain now that the rush had worn off. His wing felt like it was on fire and he could feel the energon leaking from it. It made him feel dizzy and unsteady.

“And stop sulking, Starscream! It’s distracting me.”

“I’m not sulking!”

“You are! I can literally see you sulking over there!”

☆☆☆

The rest of the troops arrived back on the Nemesis within the next few hours. Word of Megatron’s injuries spread throughout the entire army and Breakdown had to be stationed outside the medbay to stop people from trying to get a peek. No one had known exactly what had happened down there and they eagerly waited for any type of news.

Meanwhile, Megatron had to undergo emergency surgery to save his life. Even with Knock Out’s medical skill, he wasn’t sure if his leader would make it. The injuries he suffered were severe and there would be a long recovery period after this. Thankfully, after a few painstakingly long hours of nonstop focus and effort, he managed to get the warlord in stable condition.

With that out of the way, he finally walked over to Starscream who had fallen into recharge during the wait apparently. He was slumped over slightly, his helm resting in one hand and optics shut. Knock Out shook him gently, waiting for him to come online again before he started working on patching his wing.

Starscream groaned and blinked a few times blearily as he woke up. “Oh, sorry, did I doze off there? How’s Lord Megatron?”

Knock Out shook his head in exasperation. “You’re more worried about him than you are about yourself. He’s fine. I’ll have to do more work in the future but for right now he’s in stable condition.”

“Oh thank Primus.”

Knock Out moved him slightly to get a better look at the damaged wing. The bullet had gone straight through the wing membrane but didn’t hit any major fuel lines. Even so, he attached an energon drip to the fuel line in Starscream’s wrist to replenish some of the fuel he’d lost. “You got lucky. It missed everything vital. After I apply some nanites to it, your self-repair systems should do the rest. I’d recommend not transforming into your altmode for at least a few days while you heal though.”

Starscream nodded. “I understand.”

After a few minutes, Knock Out had done everything he could for his wing. “Alright, now you need to get some rest. Your self-repair systems will work a lot faster during recharge. And I mean it this time. If I catch you out of your berth anytime before morning, I will strap you down to it.”

He laughed. “I hear you. I’ll behave.”

Knock Out was about to start work on the numerous vehicons who were injured during the mission when he saw Megatron trying to get up and rushed over to him. “Hey! You need to rest. Don’t try to get up.” He placed a firm hand on his chest and pushed him back down to show him he was serious.

“What happened?” Megatron asked, “How did I get back here?”

“You have Starscream to thank for that. From what he told me, he came through the groundbridge to find you already on Primus’s doorstep. He carried you here himself. I had to perform surgery on you right away given your critical condition but… it went well.”

Megatron glanced over to the end of the medbay where he saw the flier recharging on a medical berth. “Starscream… Is he alright?”

“Yeah, he’s fine. It seems he got shot in the wing as he was escaping but it’s nothing major. It didn’t hit anything vital. He’ll recover completely within a few days.”

“I have to tell everyone what happened,” he said quietly, still trying to get up, “They have a right to know. I promise that I’ll rest afterwards but I have to do this right now.”

“It can wait. You just got out of surgery. You need to give your body time to recover and heal,” Knock Out said. He was seriously getting tired of all these mechs who thought they were stronger than they really were.

“Knock Out…”

The medic sighed. “Oh, what do I know about your well-being? I’m only your doctor after all.” He was about to argue more when he realized how serious Megatron was. “Fine… but I’m coming with you! I gotta make sure you don’t undo all my hardwork.”

Megatron gave him a soft smile as Knock Out helped him to his pedes. An impromptu meeting was called and everyone was on edge as they waited for him to give a speech. They hoped to hear any reassurance. Fear and confusion radiated throughout the room but… he had nothing good to share. He wouldn’t be able to ease their apprehension. 

“I’m afraid that we were unsuccessful in our mission,” Megatron said and waited for the pandemonium that statement had caused to die down before he continued, “Cybertron, in its current state, is no longer suitable to support life. In time, the planet will heal itself and purge the dark energon polluting its core but… in the meantime we must leave our home.”

“Leave our home?” several in the crowd asked in disbelief. How was that possible? Had they really failed?

“I understand that the transition will be hard on all of us but we must try our best during these trying times. Though we mourn our planet’s loss, the war is not over yet. The Autobots will no doubt try to conquer other planets and we must not let them destroy any more.”

Stunned silence overtook the room. No one knew what to say or what to do at all. Of course, they had known this was always a possibility but no one had stopped to truly consider what it meant. 

“We’re going to seek refuge on a planet outside of our solar system for the time being,” Megatron said solemnly, “on a planet called Earth. We’ve already sent supplies, relics, and soldiers there so we won’t be completely on our own.”

After his speech, Megatron sought out Shockwave who seemed just as stunned as everyone else despite his usual unshakable demeanor.

“Shockwave.”

“Lord Megatron, how could this have happened? Was our plan… illogical?” he asked. This was the most upset anyone had ever seen the scientist before.

“Shockwave, I’m going to entrust a very important task to you. I need you to stay on Cybertron.”

“W-what?”

“Most of our forces are leaving but I’m sure there will be some who will refuse to leave Cybertron even in its current state. I’m asking you to stay here and keep an eye on the planet and oversee any who decides to stay. I’m sure the Autobots will probably keep someone on the planet as well…”

“I understand, Lord Megatron. As you wish.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I was looking back on my notes for this series (I ended up writing out little personality guides for the characters and a bunch of plot ideas I had way before I even started writing because this started as just a daydream that I figured I might as well turn into a fic kjsdfsjdfks) and I realized that Knock Out is extremely different from what I originally wrote. He's just tired with everything and honestly as someone in pre-nursing/medicine that's such a mood.


	7. Earth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! It's been a while oops I did not mean to just leave this fic for like two months. I started school again recently and got a job so I haven't really had much time for writing what with getting up at 6am and getting home at 11pm and having to go to bed immediately if I don't wanna fall asleep during class. I also have tons of ideas for this fic but writing the stuff in between those scenes is difficult so I kinda just procrastinated writing anymore of it. I will definitely try to update again sooner this time.

“You wanted to see me, Lord Megatron?” Starscream asked, stepping into his quarters It had been weeks since they left Cybertron and both of them had spent most of it in the medbay recovering from their injuries and resting.

“How’s your wing doing?”

He brushed against his wing lightly. It had healed so well that he almost forgot it had been injured at all. “It’s great. I don’t have any pain in it or anything like that. Is that… what you wanted to see me for?”

Megatron shook his helm. “No, but I thought I’d ask anyway. So… Knock Out informed me that you were the one who saved my life during the last mission.”

“Oh, right!” he said with an awkward chuckle, “Sorry for leaving my post like that. You just happened to leave your commlink on and well I heard everything. It wasn’t anything too special or heroic. I just brought you back to the ship really.”

“You saved my life,” he corrected. That really was what it had been. Breakdown might have been the one to hold off Optimus but if Starscream hadn't shown up when he did then… he didn’t even want to think about what would have happened.

“Knock Out saved your life; I merely transported you back to the ship.”

“Well, I’m not here to discuss the logistics of it,” Megatron said, “What you did required a great amount of bravery and strength. I am very grateful for what you did no matter what title you put on it.”

Starscream planted his gaze firmly on the ground. He hoped it didn’t come off as rude but he just couldn’t look him in the optics at the moment. His face felt like it was on fire and his spark felt like it was swelling to the point of bursting. “Th-thank you, my Lord.”

“As I’m sure you are already aware, Shockwave stayed behind on Cybertron on behalf of the Decepticons,” he continued, “and that is what I wanted to discuss with you. I need someone else to fill his role as the second-in-command of this army.”

“Huh?” Starscream asked. This couldn’t be what he thought it was. Him? The second-in-command to the Decepticons? Megatron’s right-hand bot? Surely, he was just going to ask him for recommendations for who he thought would be a good candidate. Yeah, that had to be it! There was no way he was seriously asking HIM to fill that position. He was just a scientist, not even a soldier.

“I won’t force you into this role if you do not want it but… I’m asking you to be my second. It’s a lot of responsibility but I think you’re capable of handling it.”

“Are you sure?” Starscream asked, “I mean there has to be better candidates. I’m one of the newest recruits and I…”

“It is true that you lack the experience of certain other crew members,” he admitted, “but I’m confident that you’re more than ready for this. Again, it’s entirely up to you whether you want to take this or not but if you do I know I can trust you. If I go down in battle, I can be sure that the Decepticons would be under good leadership.”

“Can I… have a while to think about it?”

“Take as long as you need.”

☆☆☆

“Do you think we’re getting close?” Knock Out asked, “We’ve been drifting for weeks.”

“We would already be there if we could be using all of the ship’s power,” Starscream said, “We’re trying to conserve as much of our Energon as possible but it’s slowed us down significantly.”

“Yeah, but the longer we go on like this the lower the morale of the crew gets,” Breakdown said, “Everyone’s tired and scared. Especially with what Airachnid discovered.”

“That’s true. Could you imagine what they could have done with that much dark Energon?” Knock Out said.

“Look at what they did with only a fraction of that.” Starscream shook his helm grimly. “I’m just glad that Airachnid recovered it, at least that’s a little less dark Energon they have at their disposal.”

They stood in silence for a few minutes, watching the stars roll by as the ship continued on towards its destination. The scenery blended together after a while and the ship was silent except for the everpresent thrum of the ship’s engines. It had been like this ever since Megatron’s speech. Despite his best efforts to improve their morale, everyone needed time to mourn the loss of their planet and home.

Breakdown tapped his fingers against the window they were looking out. “What do you suppose Earth will be like? It's populated, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Starscream confirmed, “Megatron said that we are to remain hidden so that we won’t endanger the natives by bringing the Autobots to their planet. If all goes according to plan, no one will even know we’re there.”

“Speaking of,” Knock Out said, “what did he want to talk to you about?”

“He asked me to be his second-in-command.”

“You can’t just drop that so casually!” the medic said indignantly, “Lord Megatron asked you to be his second?”

“I was wondering who would take Shockwave’s place but I didn’t think it would be you,” Breakdown agreed, “No offense, but you’re not really the type I expected. I was sure he was gonna ask Airachnid.”

“None taken. I don’t know why he chose me either. I’m not a soldier. I don’t have the experience that a lot of the others onboard have. I only joined a little while ago too.”

“Well, you did save his life,” Knock Out said, “That’s gotta account for something. He must see something in you that you don’t see yourself. Or something like that... I don’t know.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Starscream asked, “You saved his life, not me.”

Knock Out and Breakdown exchanged an unreadable look.

“What’s that look for? I swear you guys can read each other’s minds.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Knock Out said, shaking his helm, “So, are you going to accept the offer?”

“I don’t know,” Starscream said, “Isn’t it a lot of work to be the second-in-command of an entire faction and being the lead scientist for it as well?” 

“Shockwave managed to do it,” Knock Out said.

“Yeah, well, I’m not Shockwave.”

“And thank Primus for that,” Breakdown said with a smirk, “We really don’t need another one. I think you should go for it. You’d be good at it.”

“Yeah,” Knock Out agreed, “Plus don’t you think it would be a good opportunity to get closer to Lord Megatron?”

“I don’t like what you’re insinuating, K-”

Knock Out waved his hand dismissively but was still smiling. “I’m not insinuating anything. If you read it a certain way, that’s on you.”

“You know what you were--you know what nevermind,” Starscream said with an exasperated sigh, “I don’t know. It’s not that I don’t want to because I do. I would do anything to help the cause… especially now. I just don’t know if I’d be any good at the job.”

☆☆☆

The next day, Earth finally came into view. It was a beautiful planet from afar. Stretching landscapes of green and blue with swirling mists of clouds floating above the planet's surface. The windows of the Nemesis gathered large crowds of bots all pushing and shoving each other to get a better view of what would be their home for the foreseeable future.

“What do you think those things are?” Airachnid asked, pointing one leg at a quickly moving, large, drum-shaped object with two panels jutting off the sides.

“Some sort of artificial satellite maybe?” Starscream guessed, “It seems to be orbiting the planet but it doesn’t look like any naturally occurring satellite I’ve ever seen. It might have been placed here by the occupants of Earth.”

“Hmm, I wonder for what purpose though…”

“It’s fascinating, isn’t it?” Starscream said, not trying to hide the giddy excitement in his voice, “How technologically advanced do you think they are? Maybe they’ve created stuff that we never would have thought of! Or never had the materials to make!”

Despite the dire circumstances that had brought them to seek refuge on Earth, he wanted to look at the positive side of it. A new planet meant all sorts of new research. There would be so much work to do, so many experiments to run, so much data to collect. Earth was an amazing planet.

“Don’t get him started please, Airachnid,” Knock Out said, “If you think he will stop talking about something he’s interested in, he won’t.”

“Don’t pretend you’re not even a little bit curious about what Earth is like,” Starscream said, “We are going to be living here for a while.”

“Starscream is right,” Soundwave said, appearing behind the group out of nowhere and causing both Airachnid and Starscream to jump, “We should collect as much information about the planet and its inhabitants if we want to stay hidden.”

“You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that!” Airachnid said, “You could have given me a spark attack.”

A small emoticon frown appeared on Soundwave’s visor screen. “My apologies. I will give more notice in the future.”

A quiet chuckle came from behind the crowd causing them to turn around. Megatron stood there, a small smile on his face. It was the first time anyone had seen him outside of the medbay or his quarters since they left Cybertron. It was quite the contrast from the last time most of them had seen him during his speech. Back then, he looked absolutely awful. Knock Out was a great surgeon but even he wouldn’t be able to fix extensive injuries like that. But, thankfully, it seemed like he was healing well.

“You look great, my Liege,” Knock Out said, a slight pride in his voice. He doubted any other medic could have done what he did that night. 

“I’m glad you’re finally feeling better,” Airachnid said.

“Thank you,” Megatron said, moving towards the window, the crowd parting down the middle for him. “It’s good to be back. We will be entering Earth’s orbit soon. No one is to leave the ship without permission. This has to be a covert operation lest we draw the Autobots here and endanger the natives of Earth.”

The landing was less than smooth. Earth’s gravity was far different from that of Cybertron’s which the Nemesis had been built to withstand. As soon as they entered its orbit, alarms started going off everywhere on the ship. Severe turbulence rocked the Nemesis. They only just barely managed to do an emergency landing in an empty field somewhere. The bottom of the ship scraped against the ground, uprooting the dirt and making a deafening noise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!
> 
> I got a new twitter recently (I've had it for a while but only just started using this acc a couple months ago) so if you want to follow me it's: [@M00NSCREAM](https://twitter.com/M00NSCREAM)


	8. Exploration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Decepticons explore Earth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is a little short! I intended to make it longer but I just could not think of anything else to put here!!
> 
> Also wow this finally reached 20k words that's crazy! I'm kinda proud of myself for making it this far??? The longest thing I've written previously was a 45k word original story that took me two years to complete so to write nearly half of that in a fraction of the time was really surprising to me. I don't really know how long this fic will be yet mostly because I have a lot of ideas for plotlines but no clue on how to end it in a satisfactory way. I wasn't a big fan of Prime's ending (or season 3 in general tbh) so I will probably end up deviating a lot from that.

Most of the lights had broken during the crash, sending the entire ship into darkness. They had only been on Earth for a few hours and already things were going horribly wrong. Shattered glass covered the floor, doors had been nearly torn off their hinges, and everyone was startled. After a few seconds of stunned silence, emergency flashlights started coming on.

“Is everyone alright?” Megatron asked, shining a light around the room and looking for any obvious injuries. There were some minor cuts and scratches on a few of the bots, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed by self-repair systems and a good buffing.

“What happened?” Airachnid asked, holding her limbs around herself protectively, “Is it safe?”

“We’ve landed for now but…” Megatron frowned. “I think it’ll be awhile before we can get back in the air.”

“So what now?” Breakdown asked, “Are we just supposed to wait around while the ship gets fixed?”

Megatron paused, considering what he should do. It would probably take at least a day for vital repairs (and even that estimate was assuming that the damage was minor). There was also the problem of cleaning up all the mess the crash had made and making sure everyone was alright. But they also couldn’t just stay in the middle of some field on Earth forever especially given that it was likely their cloaking device was also damaged. As it was now, any humans could have just wandered across a giant spaceship just sitting there.

“We’ll send out a few people to explore Earth and gain intel on its people,” he said finally, “You’ll go in pairs as there are a lot of potential dangers we are currently unaware of. Starscream and Airachnid will go together and Knock Out and Breakdown will go together. Soundwave will work on repairing the ship and I will check around the ship for anyone who might be injured. As for the rest of you… cleaning duty.”

There was a collective groan that came from the vehicons but they complied without too much complaining. 

Thankfully, there were no other severe injuries. The worst was a vehicon who had gotten thrown against the wall during the crash.

\---

“It’s been a while since we’ve had a moment to ourselves, hasn’t it?” Knock Out said, “It’s kinda nice being just the two of us again like old times.”

“I’ve missed this,” Breakdown admitted, “Everything has been so hectic lately. It’s like we haven't had anytime to just exist.”

The two of them drove on through the desert roads of… where ever on Earth they were. Thankfully, the roads were mostly abandoned and it seemed like they were far from any sort of civilization. It would be hard to explain their Cybertronian vehicle alt modes. The scenery blended together after a while but it was nice to just transform and drive.

“I think I could get used to living here,” Knock Out said, “Lots of nice open stretches of desert to drive through. You couldn’t do this on Cybertron.”

“We’re supposed to be gathering intel, Knock Out,” Breakdown reminded him.

“It _is_ intel! Isn’t the… uh… geography of Earth important? Plus, it’s not like there’s anything around here for us to observe. This place looks pretty empty.”

Breakdown turned his mirrors to check for any signs of life or civilization. There was still nothing but desert and the occasional road sign. “That is true… I don’t like it. It’s unnerving.”

“Hey, why don’t we have a little race?” Knock Out suggested, “To calm your nerves. It’ll be just like old times.”

Instead of replying, Breakdown revved his engines and then took off immediately after leaving Knock Out in a cloud of sand and dust.

“Hey! Cheater!” Knock Out tore off after him, almost catching up but still a bit behind. 

“So, what do I get when I win?” Breakdown asked--and although he couldn’t see his faceplates in this form, Knock Out could practically hear the smirk in his voice. “Better be something good.”

Knock Out laughed. “ _When_ you win? Right, I’ll think about it.”

“A reassuring answer.”

Knock Out sped up, his tires grinding against the worn road. He was neck-and-neck with Breakdown now and he was surely going to take the lead soon. “What do I get when _I_ win?”

Breakdown was going to shoot back some snarky reply when he caught sight of something in the edge of his vision. “Knock Out. We’re being followed.”

“Huh?” Knock Out asked. He turned his mirror and surely enough, there was a vehicle pursuing them. “An Autobot? On Earth?”

It didn’t look like any Autobot they’d ever seen but it was too far away to tell. A few seconds later, they heard the sound of sirens in the distance. Red and blue lights flashed behind them.

“That’s not any Cybertronian alt mode I’ve ever seen,” Breakdown said, not slowing down at all, “Could it be an Earth vehicle?”

“I didn’t think there was any mechanical life on Earth,” Knock Out said, checking back on their pursuer with his mirrors every few seconds, “Didn’t Megatron say it was only organics living here?”

“Could it be like that thing Starscream was talking about when we were entering Earth’s orbit?”

“What? The artificial satellite?”

“Yeah, that. He said it was most likely made by the humans. This might be the same thing.”

“So, then why would a human be following us? We just got here. How could we have broken our cover _already_?” Knock Out asked.

“I don’t know. We might be breaking some human law or something.”

Knock Out sighed. “Because of course we are. Alright, let’s just focus on losing them.”

Up ahead was a large sign that had “Welcome to Jasper, Nevada” printed on it in large, colorful letters. It was the perfect hiding place… or well, they hoped their follower would be dumb enough to not notice them hiding behind it. Breakdown screeched to a halt and drove onto the sandy ground behind the sign with Knock Out following him.

They waited a few tense seconds where they weren’t sure whether or not they would have to explain to Megatron that they had blown their cover, because they were fooling around. Finally, the vehicle sped by, its alarms still blaring. Once they were in the clear, they both transformed back and started laughing. 

Knock Out held his stomach plates as he laughed uncontrollably. “That was probably the dumbest thing ever! We’ve only been here for what? An hour maybe? And we almost blew our cover already.”

“That was fun. Leave it to you to get us into trouble with Earth’s law enforcement squad before we’ve even introduced ourselves” Breakdown said with a huge smile on his faceplates.

“Hey! You were racing too,” Knock Out said, playfully hitting Breakdown’s arm.

“There’s something that’s more important than that though.”

“Oh, and that is?”

“What my reward for winning the race is going to be.” 

Knock Out stopped laughing abruptly, his optics wide. “Oh, scrap! I forgot all about the race.

“Convenient for you to forget when you finally lose.”

“Oh, shush,” Knock Out said and then paused. He thought about what he could do or give Breakdown for a reward when they were in the middle of nowhere on Earth. "Alright, come here.”

Breakdown leaned over and Knock Out wrapped his arms around him. Their lips met like they had so many times before. No matter how many times they were close to each other, neither of them got tired of it. It was different from when they had first met, of course, the spark was different but not lesser. They’d been through thick and thin with each other and that was never going to change.

After a few moments, Breakdown was the one to pull away first. “Tastes like sand.”

“Rude. What’s a good kiss without a little sand anyway?”

“I didn’t say it was bad just… a little sandy,” Breakdown said with a laugh, “Say, do you remember when we got conjuxed still?”

Knock Out looked up at the night sky. “I do. That was back when we were working in Iacon, wasn’t it? You were still studying to become my assistant back then.”

“I’ve been thinking about those days a lot lately,” Breakdown said, “I thought it was the worst back then. Studying and working and having no time to myself or for you. But… now I miss it. I wish I could go back to before all this had to happen.”

Knock Out stared at Breakdown for a moment before leaning against his side and resting his helm on his shoulder. “Really? You’ve never mentioned such things before.” 

“Just never had the opportunity I suppose. Now it’s just… one thing after the other forever with no time to just stop and talk. You’ve noticed it too, haven’t you? We don’t really talk about anything that doesn’t relate to the war. Even now.”

“Why don’t we take a break then? We can stay here for a while,” Knock Out suggested, “Megatron won’t mind if we slack off just a little bit, right?”

Breakdown smiled. “Alright.”

\---

Meanwhile, Starscream and Airachnid were flying through the sky over Jasper, covered by the darkness. For the first leg of their journey, the land was barren except for sandstone cliffs lining the horizon. Airachnid was slightly annoyed but to Starscream it was amazing. He had missed being able to fly freely like he had on Cybertron. The wind felt amazing under his wings and he couldn’t help but spin through the air much to Airachnid’s amusement. Adjusting to Earth’s gravitational force was difficult at first especially with taking off, but he managed to adapt quickly.

After a while of flying together through the desert, they came up on a small city. It was brilliant. The entire city was lit up with yellow which contrasted against the dark sky. They could hear bustling sounds of life which was refreshing compared to the complete silence except for the sound of their engines that they had been traveling in for an hour.

“Finally, some sign of life,” Airachnid said, hovering in place, “I was beginning to think that this planet was completely empty.”

“I wonder what their cities will be like,” Starscream said, his excitement growing as they got closer. He wanted to learn as much about Earth and its people as he could.

“Remember, we’re supposed to remain undercover. We can’t get too close.”

“Aww,” he said, deflating a little bit. He understood the importance of being covert, of course, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t disappointed by it. They could learn so much if they had the cooperation of the humans but unfortunately, they’d just have to observe from afar for now.

“I wonder if I might find some more specimens for my collection,” Airachnid said, continuing to fly forward finally.

“Collection?”

“I like to collect specimens from other planets and keep them with me,” she explained.

“Keep them with you? You don’t… kill them, do you?”

“No, of course not! I take good care of them,” she said, somewhat offended that he would even think that of her, “I’ll have to show you sometime just so you don’t think I’m some kind of serial killer.”

“Well, I’d love to see it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Can you tell that Knock Out and Starscream were my favorite characters in tfp? Also thank you for reading!


End file.
